Reflections of Ruin
by P.H. Wise
Summary: A little over sixteen years ago, Hotaru Tomoe died a stillborn child. What does this have to do with Ranma? Quite a lot, as it turns out. A Sailor Moon, Ranma, Cthulhu Mythos crossover fukufic. Completed.
1. Prologue: Broken Reflection

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon Crossover Fukufic

Prologue: Broken Reflection

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

* * *

**TEN YEARS AGO**

The laboratory was burning. It was all burning. Flame and heat and smoke filled the air, and nothing human would survive it for long. The experiment had failed. Professor Tomoe's revolutionary attempt at drawing energy from subspace had drawn something... else. Something dark. Something that now searched almost frantically through the ruins of the burning laboratory. Nearby, Tomoe Soichi lay dying.

"Damnit, where is she!" the Dark Presence – Mistress 9 – hissed. She was a vast, dark, vaguely female humanoid shape, and the shadows writhed around her, but she was fading; her spectral form grew fainter and fainter by the moment. She scooped up the Professor by his throat, heedless of his dying state. "Where is your daughter, Doctor?" she demanded. "Where is my vessel?"

Soichi smiled faintly, seemingly unaware that he was being held aloft by his throat. "I always wanted a daughter..." he coughed violently – a great, wracking wet cough. When he had finished, there was blood on his lips.

Mistress 9 dropped him disgustedly. She could not understand what had gone wrong. The stars were in line. This was the night she had to take possession of her host, or lose everything. Hotaru Tomoe – the reborn Soldier of Ruin – had been born to this man's wife. Her divinations had shown this to be true. They had also shown her that the one who would be the Messiah of Silence was in mortal danger this night, and every spell she'd cast had led her to believe it would be here, now. Leaning down over the man, she intoned in a grave voice, "Where is Hotaru Tomoe?"

Soichi looked up at Mistress 9, surprised. "Hotaru?" he asked hopefully.

"Your daughter, Doctor Tomoe. Where is she?"

The light in Soichi's eyes faded slightly. "Hotaru," he whispered desperately. "Tomoe Hotaru. That was what we were going to name her. If she hadn't been..." tears began to shine in his eyes. "If she hadn't been... stillborn... six years ago now." Even as his life bled out from the horrible gashes across his body, he began to cry.

Mistress 9 snarled and whirled away from the broken man. Germatoid could see what use he could make of this one, but it seemed that if she herself was to survive the night, she would need to find another host. While no host would be nearly so ideal as Hotaru Tomoe would have been, she was no longer in a position to be picky. In great wrath, she departed the burning lab.

She would have to be quick. Any female would do, provided she was young enough that she would be unable to effectively fight off her influence, even in this weakened state.

There. She would do.

As Mistress 9's spectral form descended upon a dark haired six year old girl out for a walk with her mother and her two sisters, far away, at that very moment, a young boy covered in fish-sausages was being lowered into a pit full of starving cats for the third time...

REFLECTIONS OF RUIN  
END PROLOGUE

Author's notes: This is a story idea that had been kicking around in my head for almost six years now, and I just ran out of the will to resist writing it. Ah well.

Edit: Removed most of the gratuitous Japanese.


	2. Awakening

**MODERN DAY**

The world was lit only by a terrible red light.

Sailor Mars stood in the midst of Tokyo, but it seemed as though the whole world, red-lit as it was, had been turned to stone. Even her friends: Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus, Sailor Jupiter: all stone. "The Silence is closing in..." she heard herself say.

A hundred black tornados were tearing through Tokyo, rending building, street, flesh, and bone. People shrieked silently as their stone bodies were torn to bits. Fires were burning uncontrolled, and soon, all Mars could see was rubble, save only for herself and her friends.

A light shone from behind her, and she turned towards it.

A girl was standing there, silhouetted against the darkness. Her outline looked like a Sailor Senshi, and she held a glaive before her. As Mars looked at the weapon, the chill of the grave passed over her soul, and she shivered. "Who are you?" she asked.

The figure seemed to see Rei for the first time, and gave a start; she stepped forward, and though she spoke, there was no sound.

Sorry about this.

Rei caught a brief glimpse of dark red hair just before one of the black tornados swept over her, and the world faded into darkness.

* * *

Reflections of Ruin

by P.H. Wise

A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 1 - Awakening

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit. The teaser part of this chapter is heavily based on episode 90 of Sailor Moon (Chikyuu houkai no yokan? Nazono shinsenshi shutsugen)

* * *

Ranma awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling. His head hurt. Everything hurt, actually. For a moment, he stared up at that unfamiliar ceiling, trying to figure out where he could possibly be. He raised his hand in front of his eyes and opened and closed his hand. Scratch that. Her hand. Female form, then. She sat up. "Akane!" she yelled suddenly, and vertigo threatened to overwhelm her. Strong but gentle hands guided her shoulders back down to the bed, and she heard a familiar voice.

Doctor Tofu's voice.

"Easy, Ranma," the Doctor said, "You've had a rough time."

"Doctor Tofu?" Ranma asked, confused. She couldn't see him. Where was he? She hadn't seen any sign of the man since... she wasn't sure when. The good Doctor's clinic had closed up almost overnight one day, it seemed like. "Where am I?" she asked.

Tofu stepped into Ranma's field of vision, leaning down so Ranma could see him without craning her neck. "You're in Tokyo General Hospital, Ranma. You've been here for about a week. How much do you remember?"

**FLASH**

Fire. Pain. Saffron.

**FLASH**

Ranma puts a hand to her head. "Ugh..."

Doctor Tofu smiled sympathetically. "It's OK if you can't remember it all right now. It will come back to you. For now, just concentrate on healing."

Ranma nodded faintly, adjusted her ki flows to speed her recovery, and then drifted off into a deep, deep sleep.

**FLASH**

Akane. The Dragon Tap. Saffron.

**FLASH**

She wasn't sure how much time had passed before she came to again. It was a voice that brought her to wakefulness. Doctor Tofu's voice. "Ranma," he said, "there's someone here to see you."

Ranma opened her eyes.

Akane was there, holding back tears. At the sight of her, Ranma's heart leapt within her chest. She was alive! Thank God! It had worked. It was worth it. She was alive, and it was all going to be OK. "Hey," she whispered at the pig-tailed martial artist.

Ranma smiled beatifically. "You're OK," she said, with wonder in her voice.

Akane snorted. "Thanks to you, you big dummy." She was looking at Ranma with pity in her eyes. That bothered Ranma. It bothered her a lot. She didn't want Akane to look at her with such eyes.

"Least I'm not an uncute tomboy," she managed after a moment.

There. A spark of the old fire. There it was. There and... gone. Faded before it could even take shape. The pity snapped back into place like the jaws of a trap.

"Ranma," she said, "What you did for me..." she trailed off, looking at him uncertainly.

"I'd a done it for anyone," the pig-tailed girl replied as casually as she could manage, trying to sit up but failing.

"Liar," Akane whispered.

Ranma didn't reply to that, but finally did manage to prop herself up in a sitting position on the bed.

"What you said when you thought I was dead..."

What she had said? Ranma didn't remember... oh. Oh. That.

"Did you mean it?"

She looked into Akane's eyes for a long, long time, afraid of how Akane would respond. Then she nodded, ever so faintly.

The storm of emotion she had been holding back since she arrived grew beyond her ability to restrain. Akane burst into tears, and swept Ranma up into a fierce hug, crying into her red hair. "You dummy. You big dummy. You dummy."

Ranma sat there in shock, letting Akane hug her and cry, totally unused to this side to her fiancée. "Akane, I..." But there was nothing to say. Akane had been saved, but a heavy price had been paid. Even now, she could sense it, waiting there at the edge of her awareness.

The Silence Glaive.

She held Akane there in her arms until she drifted off into another fitful sleep.

**FLASH**

He needed more power. For all his skill and training as a martial artist, Ranma Saotome simply did not have enough power. Saffron was winning. The dragon tap was burning. It was all burning. Flame and heat and smoke filled the air, and nothing human would survive it for long. The battle was lost. Ranma Saotome's fight to save the life of the one girl he had ever really loved was about to end in death. His death, and hers. He needed more power.

Desperately, he clawed at his inner reserves, draining them dry and clawing at them still, seeking, searching for some last scrap of power that might let him save Akane's life.

There.

There. A familiar power rested there, deep within. He had never felt it before in his life, and yet it was familiar. So familiar. A name came to him, and he shook his head in wonder. Hotaru Tomoe. The name of his previous incarnation, dead before she even had a chance to be born. The knowledge was there and gone before he could grasp it.

He floated, suspended in a vast darkness lit only by a glowing something that floated a few meters in front of him. Ranma shielded his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse at this familiar whatever it was. This thing that he might use to save Akane.

A terrible, many-spiked glowing crystal hung suspended in the dark, giving off a deadly purple light.

He reached for it, and a silhouetted female figure appeared before him, between him and the crystal. Her hair was long and dark, and she carried a wicked glaive. She did not speak: she looked, and he understood.

_There is a price._

He was willing to pay it.

_Are you?_

**FLASH**

An horrific thing descended upon the city, globular yet writhing. Vast tentacles flailed about its body, and a great single eye bathed the whole area in a malevolent red glow; yet its gaze was fixed on her.

On her alone.

**FLASH**

Flopping, hybrid humanoid fish-frog things swarmed through the streets of Tokyo, leaving death and chaos in their wake. Armed with glowing tridents, they struck down all who stood before them. A contingent of female humanoid monsters that looked like they had been grown from whatever happened to be lying around (basketballs, cars, video games, purses, and on and on) burst up from the ground and tore into the fish-frog things, and the streets echoed with the sound of their combat. To fight these monsters would become her responsibility.

**FLASH**

Life. Immortality. Life unending, unless she should be killed. But not life as a man. Would she accept this price? THIS price?

**FLASH**

Another image. Another. Another. Another. Another responsibility. Another price. Another burden. Hundreds of images flashed through his mind, each one weighing down on Ranma's soul like a mountain, yet still he moved forward. Only one thing mattered now, and that was Akane. To save her, he would pay any price.

He was willing to pay it.

_So be it._

In that moment, high atop Mount Phoenix, Ranma Saotome drew upon the power that had been dormant within him all his life. He drew upon the power of Saturn. Instantly, he felt the familiar tingle of his transformation to female form, but this time, something was different. It felt... intense. Strong. Like fire racing across his skin. A deadly purple light shone around her. Her hair darkened several shades, and the sigil of Saturn glowed like a brand upon her forehead.

Ranma opened her eyes.

Energy pulsed out from the sigil on her forehead, and with the pulse, another change came over the pig-tailed girl. Her hair burst free of its pigtail, flowing free and loose. A gemmed tiara faded into being on her forehead, and her Chinese silk clothing was swiftly replaced by what looked something like a white seifuku variant with a dark purple skirt, a dark, dark red bow, and dark purple boots. In her hands she held the Silence Glaive, and death was upon its edge.

Saffron stared in shock at the transformation he had witnessed. "Impossible!"

With one smooth motion, Sailor Saturn brought the Silence Glaive back, and then thrust it forward, stabbing its deadly blade through the Phoenix king's chest.

The sound of the blade piercing flesh echoed loudly upon Phoenix Mountain. For a long moment, Saffron stared down at the weapon that had impaled him.

"But I can't die," he whispered. "A Phoenix will always rise from the ashes..."

He disintegrated in a flash of purple light, and was gone.

There were no ashes to rise from.

**FLASH**

When Ranma woke, Akane was gone. But then, she hadn't really expected her fiancée to stay with her through the night. The sun was shining through the windows, and she sat up easily, rubbing her eyes.

"Feeling better?" Doctor Tofu asked.

Ranma nodded.

Tofu smiled. "Good. We were starting to get worried about you."

"Thanks for the help, Doc. How long till I can get outta here?"

"I'd like to observe you at least until noon. Ordinarily, I'd say another two days, but you heal remarkably quickly." Tofu reached over to Ranma and removed a bandage from her cheek and looked at the skin beneath. "No scarring, even. This was a third degree burn, Ranma."

"I've always healed fast."

Tofu shook his head. "Not this fast."

There was silence between them for a few minutes as Tofu removed numerous bandages from Ranma and examined what was left of the injuries.

"What will you do now?" Tofu asked when he had finished.

Ranma looked at Tofu, opening her mouth to reply. Her response died on her lips. For a moment, the reality of her situation nearly overcame her. Sure, she was used to her girl body now, and had come to accept it as another part of him. He'd come that far, at least. But that's the thing. He'd come to accept it as another part of him. To lose his male body entirely? To be a girl for good? He felt a horrible, horrible sense of loss, and in that moment, he wondered if he would have felt the same had his curse finally been cured: if he had become trapped with only a male body to live in. Ranma shuddered. Either alternative was almost too terrible to contemplate; though she still considered herself male, she had become used to being both male and female in body, and to now be stuck as one or the other for the rest of her life felt ... stifling.

"I don't know," she said at last.

Doctor Tofu nodded. "Fair enough."

* * *

It had been an eventful day for the Sailor Senshi. A new enemy had arrived, for one thing, and despite making use of monsters that seemed more ridiculous than frightening, the power of those monsters could not be denied. Even Sailor Moon's 'Moon Princess Halation' wasn't effective against them, and that was the strongest attack they had access to. Rei had had her heart crystal stolen and then returned by two mysterious new Senshi, and she'd barely had any time at all to think about the dream she'd had. Now, however... she decided she needed to talk to Luna and Artemis about it.

She found them in the courtyard of the temple. The other girls were inside, studying for their exams. Exams. There was another thing to worry about. They were going into high school soon, but they wouldn't get into good ones if they didn't pass their exams. Although Rei herself would simply continue at her Catholic school, the thought of Usagi or Makoto or Minako ending up at a place like, say, Furinkan High, was not a pleasant one.

She told Luna and Artemis about the dream, and the two moon-cats looked thoughtful for a long moment. Then they started talk between the two of them. Rei waited, trying to make out what they were saying, but found herself unable to do so.

"Well?" she asked after a few minutes.

Luna looked at Rei. "Our memories of the Silver Millennium aren't very good," the Moon-cat admitted. "Being in stasis for ten thousand years has a detrimental effect on a being's memory even under the best conditions. But we've been remembering some things."

Artemis took over. "We think it's possible that the girl you saw in your dream might be another Senshi. Just like the two others who intervened against the new enemy today."

Rei frowned. "But I thought we were all the Senshi? I remember a little bit from back then, and I don't remember any others..."

Artemis shook his head. "We just don't know. None of us have completely reliable memories from that time except for Sailor Pluto, but she's not here to ask."

Rei looked thoughtful. "Why don't we ask her, then?"

"It's not that simple," Luna said. "There's no way to get to her without Chibi-Usa's key. Unless you were to physically travel to the Gates of Time, that is."

"Where are they?" Rei asked.

"On Pluto."

Rei's face fell. "That could be difficult. I guess we could try a Sailor Teleport, but it would be dangerous..."

Artemis nodded definitively. "Very. Your magic protects you from space, but Sailor Pluto's castle was notorious for its automated defenses. And even if you did manage to find the Gates of Time, Pluto has never looked kindly on people who enter the time-tunnel. Chibi-Usa is the only one I've ever heard of that she didn't kill."

"So, what, we just have to wait for her to contact us? If she does at all" Rei asked.

"I'm afraid so, Rei," Luna said.

Rei was irritated; she was irritated by their inability to do anything at this point save wait for the next attack. Still, she hid her irritation as best she could, and managed to keep the eye-twitching to a minimum. "Thanks Luna, Artemis," she said.

Luna and Artemis both nodded, and then followed Rei inside to join the others.

As Rei and the moon-cats entered the living room, Usagi laughed at the top of her lungs, and the sound of it echoed into the surrounding area.

"Geeze, you're loud," Rei said, mock-glaring at Usagi.

"Rei! Rei! Look at this! Look at what Shiko did to poor Eiko!" Usagi pointed enthusiastically to the manga she was holding up.

Rei smiled fondly, and then screwed up her face in an angry expression. "U-SA-GI! Leave the manga alone! It's time for studying!"

Usagi grinned cheekily. "I was studying! See, look, the manga used a really hard word!" she pointed at a particularly difficult kanji that Biiko had yelled at Eiko in one of the panels.

"It's time to be serious, Usagi," Ami said scoldingly, though her eyes were gentle. We're in 3rd year junior high now. It's less then a year until the high school entrance exams."

Usagi nodded fiercely, putting the manga down. "In order to go on more dates with my Mamo-chan, I, Tsukino Usagi, will do my best!" She rolled up an invisible sleeve. "My best!"

Minako, Ami, and Makoto all laughed.

It went on like that for a while, their studying being interrupted intermittently by jokes, fits of giggles, squabbles, and gossip. Ami pretended not to be interested in the latter, and continually brought the discussion back to their homework. Then she'd begin to explain some esoteric concept related to what they were learning, and the others would get funny looks on their faces as they waited for her to finish. It was more than friendship; it was family, and the love that bound the five girls together filled their hearts with warmth.

* * *

Yet as the study session went on, Rei couldn't help but think back to her dream, and to wonder what the future held in store.

"Ranma!" Kasumi said cheerfully as Ranma entered the Tendo home. "Welcome home!"

"Welcome back, Saotome," Nabiki said, the normal greedy, calculating look on her face replaced (at least for the moment) with something approaching genuine human warmth.

"I'm home," Ranma announced quietly.

The table was set, and everyone was gathered around it – Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, Genma, and Soun.

"We were just sitting down for some lunch," Kasumi said. "But I made plenty. Have a seat, Ranma. Would you like some hot water?"

Ranma sat down at her traditional seat, and though her heart was warmed by Kasumi's cheerful greeting, the offer of hot water countered it nicely. With a sigh, Ranma shook his head. "No thanks, Kasumi. But this food sure looks good!"

Kasumi and Nabiki both looked at him strangely at the declination of hot water. The two Tendo daughters glanced around the table. Akane looked distressed, and Genma was unreadable.

They ate in silence for a while, and then, unable to bear it any longer, Nabiki spoke up. "So spill, Saotome. Why haven't you changed back, and what happened in China?" Her voice sounded loud in her own ears.

Ranma, Akane, and Genma all looked at Nabiki silently, their gazes intense but hard to read, and Nabiki shrank visible beneath the force of their combined stare. "Sorry I asked," she muttered, and went back to her food.

After a bit, Ranma looked up, and decided to answer. "First bit is easier to explain than the second," she said, holding up her teacup, now half full of hot green tea. "I don't change anymore, Nabiki," she said, and dumped it over her head.

No change. At all.

Nabiki's eyes widened. "The curse was locked again?"

Ranma shook her head. "There is no curse anymore."

"What do you mean, Ranma?" Kasumi asked.

Ranma met Kasumi's gaze. "That was part of the price I paid. To save Akane." There was much that went unsaid in that look. A sadness that went almost beyond words. A hopeless kind of longing. The kind of love that would willingly pay the same price all over again in a heartbeat.

Kasumi's expression softened visibly, though it wasn't a particularly hard expression to begin with. She gathered Ranma up into a fierce hug. "Thank you," she said, and meant it.

Ranma looked at her wonderingly, amazed that her spirits could be lifted by two such small words, but lifted all the same. She smiled. "You're welcome."

"You can stop flirting with my sister any time now, Ranma," Akane said crossly, though there was no real fire behind her words. The sadness of the moment was broken, and the two of them fell into an old, familiar, comfortable pattern.

Ranma smiled a cocky smile, though it was barely a shadow of her former self. "What's the matter?" she asked as she polished off the last of her lunch. "Are ya jealous or somethin', Tomboy?"

Akane mock-glared at Ranma; Ranma made a face at her and darted away.

"Get back here, Ranma!" Akane laughed, running into the yard after the other girl.

Kasumi watched the two leave with a gentle smile on her face.

Soun, on the other hand, bursts into tears. "We live in a cruel, cruel world, Saotome! Just when our children finally admit their love for each other, that love has become impossible to realize!" He shook his head sorrowfully. Oh, Saotome, what will we do now?"

Genma pushed his glasses up onto his face and looked thoughtful. He didn't answer for a long moment, and the sound of Soun's sobs filled the room. "I think it's time the boy and I went home, Tendo," Genma said at last.

Nabiki and Kasumi looked up in surprise, as did Soun. That had not been what they'd expected out of Genma.

"But the schools...!"

"Will be united, old friend. But after what I saw at Mount Phoenix..." Genma shook his head. "The boy loves Akane, Tendo. The schools will be joined, sooner or later." With that, he rose to his feet and walked outside.

"Ranma!" he called. "Come here, boy."

Ranma hopped over the wall of the Tendo home, landing easily on the grass on the house-side. "Whaddya want, Oyaji?"

"We're leaving."

The world seemed to fall out from under her. "What?"

Akane, who had had to come around the long way through the gate, stopped short as she heard that. "What?" she asked, fear evident in her voice.

"It's for the best, boy," Genma said gruffly. "We can't stay here at the Tendo's forever."

"Don't give me that 'abusing their hospitality' crap. You never cared about that before. What gives?"

Genma glared at his son. "Ranma, your father, out of the goodness of his heart, has decided to take you home to see your mother, and you can do nothing but question his motives?" he asked dramatically. Tears leaked from his eyes. "You break your father's heart!"

Ranma didn't look particularly impressed. "What's the real reason, Oyaji?"

Thoroughly irritated with his boy, Genma resorted to the truth: "I have it on good authority that your mother considers sacrificing your manhood to save your fiancée to be very, very manly."

Akane blinked. She remembered Auntie Saotome calling, and that Uncle Genma had spoken to her for a long time, but she didn't think they were talking about that. She exchanged a sad look with Ranma, then took him by the hand and led him off to the dojo.

"Saotome, you can't!" Soun wailed. "The schools will never be joined if you leave now!"

Genma looked at Soun, tears leaking from his own eyes. "Tendo, there comes a time in every man's life when he must weigh his wife's offer of forgiveness, her excellent cooking, and her unexpected willingness to perform her wifely duties against the dream of uniting the schools."

Nabiki tried very hard not to facepalm.

Soun, on the other hand, nodded sagely. "Indeed, Saotome. Indeed. The schools can surely be united on another day. And perhaps I might stop by and sample your wife's delicious cooking? On a day that Akane is cooking here, maybe."

Genma grinned conspiratorially at his friend. "Indeed, Tendo."

Without further debate, Genma went upstairs and quickly packed away both his and the boy's things. By the time he came back down, Ranma was waiting for him, looking sad, but hopeful. "Are you ready to go, boy?" he asked, tossing Ranma's pack to her.

Ranma turned towards Akane, who stood in the doorway to the dojo. "I'll see you on Sunday, Akane," she said.

Akane nodded. "Don't be late!"

And just before she departed, Ranma turned to Kasumi and Nabiki. "I... ain't the best with words, ya know?"

Kasumi smiled, though she was still getting over her shock at the suddenness of Ranma's departure. "Take care, little brother," she said, and hugged the pig-tailed girl. A moment later, Nabiki joined in the hug, and Ranma's face lit up with happiness: for a moment, she knew what it was to have a family who loved her.

Ten minutes later, Genma and Ranma were walking down the street, their packs on their backs, heading for Nodoka's house in Juuban, and the words Akane had spoken in the dojo rang heavily in Ranma's ears.

**FLASH**

Akane was looking at her fondly again, and it made her heart skip to see that look in her fiancée's eyes. "I'm going to miss you, you jerk," she said.

"Me too," Ranma said. She tried to think of something profound to say. Something to leave Akane with a lasting memory of her. Something to make Akane love her more. She fumbled for words, and she came up empty. Eloquence had never been Ranma's strong suit.

"It doesn't have to be the end, Ranma," Akane said.

**FLASH**

It doesn't have to be the end.

And despite her sense of displacement, and despite the fact that her old man had given her barely half an hour to say her goodbyes, and that most of her goodbyes (the ones to the Amazons, for example, and Ukyou, and Ryouga) had not actually been said, Ranma smiled.

No, no matter what happened next, Ranma knew, this was only the beginning.

END CHAPTER 1

Author's Notes:

I tried as best I could to find another starting point for this story, but no other point in the Ranma continuity worked quite so well. Especially considered the attitude towards the curse that I was going for with Ranma - perfectly in character for Ranma at the end of the manga, but it would have been very out of character at any point previous to that. So this takes place at the end of the manga for Ranma, and at the beginning of Sailor Moon S for Sailor Moon.

I've tried to remove all of the gratuitous Japanese that I could. The only things I've kept are 'Mamo-chan' and 'Oyaji.' The former because 'Mamo' makes me cringe even more than 'Mamo-chan' as a pet name, and 'Oyaji' because I could find another word that felt right.

Finally, for anyone who didn't understand exactly what was going on, here is what happened:

- Almost 17 years ago: Hotaru Tomoe dies in the womb.

- 16 years ago: Hotaru is reincarnated as Ranma, and Ranma is born

- 10 years ago: Mistress 9, unable to possess the unawakened Sailor Saturn due to her divinations not taking Hotaru's unexpected death into account, is forced to improvise, and burrows into the mind of a 6 year old girl, where she has lived ever since, applying her influence and trying to gain sufficient power to seize control.


	3. Adjusting

A six year old Ranma Saotome cowered next to the entrance to the pit where he knew the cats were waiting for him. Covered in horrible scratches and bleeding badly, the boy looked up at his father. "Please, daddy!" he begged. "I can't learn it! Please don't put me back in there!"

Genma looked down at his son with a face that may as well have been carved from stone, determined that Ranma learn this martial arts technique. Secretly, he was beginning to suspect that the price of learning it might be too high. It tore at his heart to subject his son to this torture. Yet he was determined that Ranma become the greatest martial artist of all time, and if that meant a little pain for the boy, so be it.

Genma gathered Ranma up into his arms, and for a moment, Ranma thought that he had earned a reprieve with his pleas. Then he lifted up the covered top of the pit and tossed Ranma down into it.

Down he fell. Down, into the pit. Down to the very bottom. Ranma had learned how to fall almost before he'd learned to walk: he rolled easily to his feet, uninjured by the fall, but the fall wasn't what he was afraid of.

Yes, afraid of. He, Ranma Saotome, was afraid. Terrified. All around him, he heard the mewling of starving cats. Some of them were dead, killed by the others for food. Two or three were fighting. But most were staring at him, their eyes glowing in the fitful light that filtered down through the pit's covering.

The sound of a hundred starving cats yowling hungrily at once filled the pit, and terror overcame Ranma's conscious mind. The boy wet himself, and passed out.

Yet the cats did not pounce on him this time. This time, something was wrong.

The shadows parted, and the cats began clawing frantically at the walls of the pit, struggling to get away from what was coming, but to no avail; darkness seemed to solidify into a vaguely feline humanoid shape, and the cats shrank away from it, hissing madly.

The creature gained substance, and had Ranma not already been passed out, the sight of its eyes peering into his would have broken him. Sheer, concentrated, supernatural evil filled the pit, and one by one, the cats began to die.

The demon looked upon Ranma's unconscious form, and it smiled wickedly. "The offering is accepted. I mark you as my own, Ranma Saotome," it said, its voice rumbling through the pit. "From now until the end of time, united we shall be. One spirit. One soul. Mine forever."

It reached out with a horrible clawed finger and marked the boy's forehead with a bloody rune. Power gathered around it in witness of the act; in witness of the binding of the boy's soul to the demon. The beast's power began to flow through the mark and into Ranma's body.

Then Ranma's eyes opened; his eyes were glowing, filling the covered pit with purple light.

The demon looked at him in surprise. "What?" it asked. This had never happened before. What was this power? It felt... familiar, somehow.

Then the bloody rune that the demon had carved into Ranma's forehead shattered. The wound was healed instantly, and the rune was replaced by an altogether different sigil. The six year old Ranma bared his teeth, and the mark of Saturn shone brightly upon his brow.

For the first time since the fall of the Silver Millennium, the ancient demon felt fear.

* * *

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 2 - Adjusting

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

* * *

Ranma awoke to another unfamiliar ceiling, and for a moment, she did not know where she was. Knowledge returned as her wakefulness increased, but she did not rise immediately. She stared up at the cat-print wallpaper, trying to recall the dream-memory she had awoken from. But it was gone. Faded. Like a poem you promise yourself you're going to write later. She stared up at the cat-print wallpaper, shuddered faintly, and sat up.

She was in a child's room. The dresser was full of clothes that would fit a five-year-old, and a host of vaguely familiar toys were neatly tucked away in a nearby lidless toy box. Here lay the relics of a time she could barely remember, carefully preserved since the day she and her father had left on their training trip.

She opened a drawer in the dresser next to the bed and pulled out an art pad. A graceful but unfamiliar hand had written on the front, "Ranma's art." She flipped it open; it was full of finger paintings, each little more than splatters of water-colours on the page, each carefully preserved here.

Ranma shook her head, recognizing this place now. Despite the damage her friends had done to this place the last time they were here, it was all back exactly the way it had been, now. Exactly the way she remembered it.

**FLASH**

"Hi mom," Ranma said hopefully, her eyes fixed upon his mother.

Nodoka Saotome bowed formally. "Ranma," she said. "Welcome home."

**FLASH**

Ranma replaced the art pat in the drawer, stood up, and shook her head. If she was going to stay here, some changes were going to have to be made.

Ranma's musing was rudely interrupted by the protestations of her stomach. She had not eaten since the yesterday at the Tendo's, and her stomach was ill pleased with such a fast. She took a few minutes to do the standard morning ritual – washing herself (though she didn't soak in the furo), brushing her teeth, putting on deodorant, brushing her hair, and then throwing on her standard Chinese silk clothing – before heading downstairs to investigate the smell of breakfast. As she passed the door to her parents' room, she heard Genma's snores coming from within.

Ranma walked into the kitchen and discovered to her delight that her mother had prepared a Japanese style breakfast. Steamed rice, miso soup, nato, and tamagoyaki were all laid out before her, and after a happy, "Good morning, mom!" she sat down and ate with gusto.

"Ranma," Nodoka said as her neo-daughter finished her breakfast, "We need to discuss a few things.

Ranma nodded. They cleaned up the breakfast mess together, making sure to leave a helping for Genma for when he woke up, and then went out into the living room and sat down on the tatami mats.

"My son," Nodoka said, "I have some concerns about the quality of education you have been receiving at Furinkan High."

Ranma blinked. 'What brought this on?' she wondered. After a moment, she rolled her eyes. "Ain't no educating going on at Furinkan, mom."

Nodoka smiled very faintly. "No, I suppose not. Regardless, your test scores have not been very impressive. At the end of your first year at Furinkan, you know only what you should have known before you began your first year of high school."

Ranma didn't see the problem. "So? What good is book learnin' to a martial artist? I don't need ta know that sort of thing to run a dojo."

Nodoka raised an eyebrow. "Ignorance is not very manly, my son," she said ominously, "And if you are to be able to run your own dojo some day, you will need to know how to run a dojo."

Ranma blinked. "What, you mean there's more to it than just teaching students?"

Nodoka nodded. "Far more. You will be running a business, Ranma. For that, you need knowledge."

"But pops said..." Ranma trailed off at Nodoka's cold look.

"I have called in a number of favors that were owed me, my son, and arranged to have you transferred to Mugen Gakuen: Infinity Academy, here in the Minato ward, to repeat your first year of high school."

"But mom...!"

"But nothing. No manly son of mine will be an ignorant louse."

Ranma sighed. "Yes, mom."

"It will be difficult. Mugen Gakuen is one of the best schools in Tokyo. But if you apply yourself, you will succeed there. Unless you think you're not up to the challenge?" she arched a delicate eyebrow as she looked at her son-turned-daughter.

Her pride pricked, Ranma clenched her fist. "Ain't no challenge that Ranma Saotome can't beat."

Nodoka nodded, a faint smile gracing her lips. "Good. Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Ranma blinked, then scratched the back of his head. "Well, uh, my room..."

"Yes?"

"It needs some changin', ya know? It's a kid's room, and I ain't a kid anymore."

Nodoka's faint smile bloomed into full wistfulness. "No," she said. "No, you aren't. You've become a beautiful young woman, my son." She rose to her feet. "Come. Your room requires redecorating, and unless I am gravely mistaken, you are in need of a new wardrobe."

Ranma nodded. "OK, but I'm gonna say this right now: no dresses, no skirts, nothin' frilly, and nothin' girly."

"Make no mistake, young woman. No matter what form you wear, you are, and always will be, my manly son."

Ranma smiled. "Thanks, mom."

They went out.

All things considered, the shopping trip wasn't so bad. Ranma had never had much love of shopping, but it did give her the opportunity to get a good look at the layout of the Azabu-Juuban district. Built on a marshy area of foothills south of central Tokyo, it was one of the most prominent upscale residential districts in Tokyo. And now, at the end of summer, it was beautiful, though uncomfortably warm. People were everywhere, and the streets were lined with trees. After they'd bought some supplies for the redecoration of her room, Ranma and her mother ended up stopping in at a clothing shop across the street from the Crown Game Center.

Most of what Nodoka bought for Ranma was shirts and pants. She managed to find several different versions of his normal Chinese clothes, a number of different kinds of slacks, some khaki pants, sweat pants, three pairs of jeans, two different pairs of tennis shoes, and a pair of dressier shoes, plus four different male style kimonos. Although it made Ranma uncomfortable, they also purchased a number of different pairs of female undergarments (in addition to several pairs of boxers), though thankfully, none of it was particularly frilly. Then, at last, they were ready to buy her school uniform.

Nodoka approached the young female clerk behind the cash register. She was cute, and blonde, though her hair colour was not natural. There weren't many native Japanese girls with natural blonde hair.

"Can I help you?" the girl asked. Her nametag read 'Kikuko.'

Nodoka gestured to Ranma, and the pigtailed girl stepped forward. "Yeah. I was wond'rin' if ya had the Mugen Gakuen school uniform here," Ranma said.

Kikuko looked Ranma up and down. "We don't carry it normally, but I'd be happy to order it for you, provided you can show proof that you are attending the school."

Nodoka produced Ranma's letter of acceptance from the Infinity Academy, and Kikuko nodded.

"All right then. Let's take your measurements," Kikuko said, and called another worker over to man the cash register before leading the Saotomes back to the tailoring station. Quickly she produced a measuring tape and went to work.

"Now, there are a number of accessories that the school has authorized for its female uniforms," Kikuko said as she wrote down the measurements she had taken. "If you want, I can show you some of the options available..."

Nodoka cut her off. "My son will be wearing the male uniform, miss."

Kikuko raised an eyebrow and looked at Ranma for a long moment. "Your son?" she asked. Ranma was clearly a girl. And with her dark red hair, blue eyes, and killer figure, she was a knockout, too. It seemed like a shame to put that body into the male uniform variant.

Nodoka nodded firmly. "My son may be a woman, but she is no less my son. Now, the male uniform, if you please."

Kikuko shrugged. "Whatever you say," she said, produced the catalogue, and turned it to the page displaying the male uniforms.

Ranma smiled faintly.

All told, Nodoka had dropped the equivalent of over a thousand U.S. dollars on Ranma's wardrobe in one outing, and though Ranma was greatly amazed, Nodoka was well off, and for her it was no great expense. And while some of Ranma's new wardrobe duplicated her old wardrobe, the difference was, the new wardrobe actually fit her female body. Feeling inordinately pleased with herself for having avoided all things 'frilly,' Ranma walked home, with her mother by her side.

* * *

Somewhere beneath Tokyo, a laboratory was filled to the brim with the knowledge of That Which Man Was Not Meant To Know. Great vats full of some unidentifiable substance gave off an angry green glow, and it was cold. Upon a desk nearby lay a copy of 'The Monsters and their Kynde.' Next to it lay an alchemical tome of Albertus Magnus and other similar works, none so dangerous as the Monsters and their Kynde, but all things that should not fall into unclean hands.

And in that dark hidden laboratory, a shadow-veiled scientist turned to his red-headed assistant, who had just walked in. "Kaolinite," he said, "Has there been any progress in locating her?"

The red-headed woman – Kaolinite – shook her head. "No Professor. In ten years, there has been no sign of Mistress 9." She paused, giving the Professor a considering look. "Have you considered the possibility that she might not have survived that night?"

The Professor shook his head. "She's resourceful. It wouldn't be like her at all to die so easily. No, she's out there. We just have to keep looking." He smiled widely, and his glasses gleamed in the dim light of the lab. "The Daimons should be helpful there. She will be drawn to their power."

Kaolinite nodded. "Is the next Daimon egg ready?" she asked.

The Professor grinned far too widely for a human face. "It's ready. Do you have a target?"

"Yes. I've recently spotted a young man wholly devoted to the maintenance of the best cars in the world. The purity of his desire could be enough to hide a Talisman within."

"Good." The Professor gestured, and the Daimon egg floated out of a nearby vat and into Kaolinite's hands.

"Good hunting, Kaolinite."

Kaolinite bowed, and then vanished, leaving her lab coat behind.

* * *

It was night, and the stars were barely visible above the Tokyo sky. Ranma grimaced as she roof-hopped across Juuban. Whatever else you said about it, one thing she still missed about the road was seeing the stars. Tomorrow was Tuesday, and would be her first day of school at Mugen Gakuen, but tonight, tonight she was trying to get a feel for the powers she had been granted in the fight against Saffron. The ground sped away beneath her as she leaped from building to building, caught up in an intricate kata that took her halfway across the town and back.

Not bad. Without calling up That Outfit, her speed, toughness, and strength had only been minimally enhanced. She was stronger, faster, and tougher, but it wasn't as much as she had feared. Ranma had never been a fan of unearned powerups.

Still, she needed to see exactly what she could do once she called out the full power of what she had become. It was dark, and no one was watching, so she figured it was safe enough. With a moment of concentration, a dark purple glow surrounded Ranma – transforming her. As the light faded away, Sailor Saturn hefted the Silence Glaive and glanced about briefly before continuing on her way.

It was much, much easier to leap from building to building now – almost effortless. She continued roof-hopping, jumping farther and faster, reveling in the sheer physical power that her transformation afforded her. Then she accidentally sliced off a satellite dish with the Silence Glaive.

It hit the roof of the building she had been practicing on with a loud clang, and Saturn cringed. "Oops," she said, flushing red with embarrassment. She glanced around quickly, and then, satisfied that nobody had heard that, prepared to continue on her way.

A man's scream of horror cut through the night like a knife.

Saturn rushed to the edge of the building and looked down just in time to see a female monster that looked like it had been built out of a... car? What the hell? Who would make a monster out of a car? Even as she wondered at that, the monster went tearing off into a nearby (dry) canal, with two blonde girls in uniforms similar to her own in close pursuit. Curious, she leaped after them, easily keeping pace.

After a few minutes, the monster burst out of the canal and into the city streets, only to skid to a stop as something struck it.

Saturn found a perch on the roof of a nearby building and stared down at the confrontation that was developing between the two girls and the monster.

Senshi.

They were Senshi.

She didn't know what that meant, but it felt important.

"The pure heart of a guy who goes after a dream..." one girl began. The other jumped in. "We won't give it to evil! For love and justice, I am the pretty soldier Sailor Moon. In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"

Saturn let out a pained groan and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Did she really just say that?" she asked aloud, cringing internally at the sheer awfulness of such a line.

The monster and the girls began to fight, sending blasts of energy back and forth. Well, the girls were sending blasts of energy. The monster was shooting... tires.

Saturn felt a headache coming on. If it wasn't angry princes with deadly chopsticks, it was female monsters who shot tires. Why couldn't she ever get away from this sort of thing?

Still, the tires did seem to be pretty effective, based on the property damage they were inflicting.

So caught up was she in watching the fight that she didn't realize someone had come up behind her until he spoke, his voice quiet but very clear.

"Are you going to help them?"

She turned.

A man in a stylish tuxedo with a top hat, cane, cape, and a white mask was standing on the roof some twenty feet away from her. He looked weird, but she was in no position to judge. After all, he didn't seem particularly weirder than most of the freaks in Nerima that she was used to dealing with, and from his stance, he looked like he might be a decent fighter.

Saturn hefted the Silence Glaive and dropped into a defensive stance. "I'm thinkin' about it," she said.

The man smiled. "That's good. They can use all the allies they can get." He looked down on the scene, and Saturn relaxed her stance and followed his gaze.

"Hold it right there!" A voice cried out on the street below, and both the girls and the monster turned to look, surprised that someone had interrupted their fight.

Two new Sailor Senshi stood almost back to back, facing the monster and the two girls. "Invited by a new age," the first one said, "I am Sailor Uranus, appearing magnificently."

"Also invited by a new age, I am Sailor Neptune, appearing elegantly."

Saturn pinched the bridge of her nose again. "These guys really gotta work on their lines."

Below them, Sailor Moon finally killed the monster, even as Uranus and Neptune announced that some sort of crystal that the monster had been carrying was not a Talisman.

The masked man smiled faintly. "It appears that today, our help is not needed." He looked at her thoughtfully. "I am Tuxedo Mask. You are?"

Saturn smirked. "Just leaving, actually," she said, and then darted to the far edge of the roof and leaped off the far edge of the building.

Tuxedo Mask rushed to the building's edge and looked down, but Sailor Saturn was already gone.

Ranma waited until she was five or six blocks away before dropping her transformation. She grimaced. While the power of that other form was undeniable, it was waaaaay too girly for her tastes.

Huh.

So there were others like her. Other... Senshi. Sailor Moon. Sailor Uranus. Sailor Neptune. And she... she was... "Saturn," she said aloud. She wasn't sure where the name came from, but it felt right. Yeah, the fact that there were others like her definitely bore some thinking about.

She hopped down from the roof and onto the street with a thoughtful expression on her face. Maybe she should try to make contact with them, if she ran into them again. They were fighting monsters, after all, and they looked like they could use all the help they could get. It was, after all, a martial artist's duty to defend the weak. Maybe...

But that was something for another day's worries.

Yet as she walked into her mother's house, she couldn't help but wonder what that Tuxedo Mask guy was telling them about her.

Probably nothing good, knowing her luck.

END CHAPTER 2


	4. Strange Days

In the dead of night, long after the battle between the Daimon and the Sailor Senshi, there were Things walking the streets of Tokyo.

Inhuman things.

There were three of them. Their forms suggested anthropoids, but with vaguely fish-like heads with prodigious, bulging eyes that never closed, and palpating gills on the side of its neck, they were clearly only distantly related to humanity, if at all. They had green-gray, shiny and slippery skin, and a scaly ridge down their backs. Somewhere between humanoid fish and frog, they were horrific creatures. Slime dripped from their jaws as they crawled about on all fours, their webbed feet slapping wetly against the pavement as they went, sniffing intently at the place where the Daimon had met its end.

After a few moments, one of them rose up on its hind legs and performed a grotesque mockery of human locomotion. "Master," it croaked in a harsh, wet voice.

A man emerged from the shadows. He was clad all in black robes on which were written blasphemous incantations in praise to the Old Ones. Only his face was visible, and it was an ugly one. His eyes were too large, and he rarely blinked. He tended to stare. His head was strangely narrow, and his nose was very nearly flat. "What have you found?" he asked. His own voice contained just a hint of that same harsh wateriness in the creature.

"Fragments," the creature croaked. "Isolated bits of the Fertility principle. The power of the Black Goat in the Woods with a Thousand Young was localized here. Or perhaps, a power similar to Hers."

The man nodded. "The power of Pharaoh 90, perhaps?" he asked.

The creature hissed. "It is possible. The stench of the Daimon leaves a stain similar to Hers, and Her young. Difficult to be certain."

"Why?"

"The Silver Moon is awake. Active. They were here."

"I see. Then let us not be here, lest we draw their attention."

The other two creatures walked on their hind legs to join the man and the beast. Shadows gathered around four, and they were gone.

* * *

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 3 – Strange Days

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

* * *

As Tuesday morning dawned, Ranma found herself flung bodily out of her bed and out the nearby (open, thankfully) window. Coming quickly to wakefulness, she twisted in midair, positioning her body to land easily on the grass in the back yard. "Whaddya think you're doin', pops!" she yelled.

Genma leaped down from the open window in a graceful jump-kick, his foot aimed directly at Ranma's head. "You didn't expect me to let you grow soft, did you, boy?"

Ranma crossed her arms in a defensive X and let Genma's foot impact against them. The force of the blow made her slide back several feet, though she did not lose her balance. Then she flung her arms out wide, sending Genma flying bodily away from her, only to have him rocket back her way after leaping off the trunk of a tree.

Grinning slightly, Ranma took to the air, the true home of any student of the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling: the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu.

Genma was very quickly punted back to the ground.

They went on like that for about five minutes, with Ranma clearly the superior, but Genma still able to make her sweat for her victory. Finally, Ranma ended it with a snap-kick to Genma's jaw, sending him flying up into the air, and then down into the garden, face first.

"Breakfast is ready!" Nodoka called.

"Catch you later, pops," Ranma said, smiling widely. She went inside in two great leaps, landing on Genma's back between the first and second leap.

Genma followed his son inside a moment later, and they quickly polished off the breakfast Nodoka had prepared.

Once breakfast was finished and the cleanup was complete, Ranma grimaced. "I guess I'd better go get ready to go," she said.

Nodoka nodded. "We're lucky they were able to get your uniform in so quickly."

"Lucky?" Ranma asked as she headed up the stairs. About ten minutes later, she came walking back down the stairs wearing the truly visually offensive colour scheme of the Mugen Gakuen school uniform. Plaid green on green pants, a deep off-red jacket, a white collared shirt with a plaid green on green tie; looking at it was like being stabbed in the eyeball.

Ranma didn't notice, not having much of an eye for colours, but Nodoka's eye twitched a bit, and she made a note to write a complaint to the school board about the uniform colours.

"Well," Ranma said, grabbing her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. "Here goes."

"Good luck at school, my son," Nodoka called.

Genma remained silent. His opinion on the matter of schooling was already well known.

"Thanks, mom," the pig-tailed girl said as she went out the door.

It was a long way to Mugen Gakuen, but Ranma had never minded walking long distances. The sun was shining brightly, and it was already a little warm, though with summer drawing to an end, there would only be a few more hot days left.

So she walked, alone, down long, crowded city streets, with cars passing her going either way every few moments. As she walked, a sports car carrying two students dressed in Mugen Gakuen uniforms went racing by, heading for the school.

Ranma walked on.

Our viewpoint shifts, following the car, and leaving Ranma behind. The two occupants of the sports car were lovely young women, for all that one of them was dressed as a boy. The cross-dressing one, Haruka Tenoh, glanced at her companion – Michiru Kaioh – briefly before returning her attention to the road.

"Are you all right, Haruka?" Michiru asked.

Haruka shook her head. "The Silence of the world is approaching, and we're no closer to finding the three talismans," she said, gripping the steering wheel more tightly than was strictly necessary. "It's frustrating."

Michiru nodded. "I know. I felt a spike of Her power last night. If we don't find the Talismans soon..."

"Then She will wake up and end everything," Haruka finished.

"Sailor Saturn."

They drove on in silence for a few minutes, and Haruka raced right through several stoplights.

Abruptly, Michiru asked, "Did you do the homework for Philosophy class last night?"

Haruka looked embarrassed. "What?" She looked at Michiru for a long moment, and nearly crashed into another car before she returned her gaze to the road.

"It's a simple enough question," Michiru said teasingly.

"The Silence of the world is approaching. Homework doesn't matter."

"Tell that to Ms. Arimura" Michiru said with a laugh. "But it will matter, and it does. Unless you think we're going to lose?"

Haruka spun the car into a parking space, and then looked at Michiru incredulously for a long moment.

They both started giggling.

* * *

Mamoru knelt on the floor in his apartment, meditating on what he had learned the previous night.

A new Senshi. Another new Senshi, that is. For a moment, he wondered what he was going to tell the others about her.

As near as he could tell, the primary difficulty here was that they simply didn't have enough information. Nobody had very clear memories from the Silver Millennium to be able to tell whether these new Senshi were friend or foe. That was a difficulty he meant to correct.

Mamoru Chiba opened a large jewel case, and withdrew the mineral remains of the four Dark Kingdom generals. He placed them around himself, one on each side. The generals had not always served the Dark Kingdom. Indeed, they had once served his former self as the Four Sky Kings. These men had never lost their memories from the Silver Millennium. Perhaps they would be able to give him the information he needed.

The power of the Earth Prince filled the room, and across Tokyo, the gathering of his might was writ large in signs that could be read by those that knew what to look for. The four crystals began to resonate with his power: Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, Kunzite. A faint glow filled the room, and the uncorrupted spirits of the generals appeared before him; each of them knelt before their Prince.

"Sire," Kunzite said.

Mamoru opened his eyes and looked at the four generals. "Hello Kunzite. Nephrite. Zoisite. Jadeite. It's been a while."

Each of the four generals nodded.

"Too long, sire," Zoisite said fondly. Then, more seriously, he asked, "What is your will?"

Mamoru considered the men before him for a long moment. Then he spoke. "Three new Senshi have begun to appear in Tokyo. Two of them, calling themselves Uranus and Neptune, have been searching for something called Talismans. We've run into them several times. I saw the other for the first time last night. She didn't tell me her name."

The Generals exchanged glances.

"The Outer Senshi have shown themselves?" Jadeite asked.

Mamoru looked confused. "Outer Senshi?" he asked.

Jadeite nodded. "They are the Sailor Senshi with powers far greater than the others. In the past, their duty was to protect the Silver Millennium from enemies that came from outside the solar system."

"Threats from outside the solar system?"

Nephrite spoke up next. "They were the vanguard. The first line of defense between the Solar System and the Things that dwell in the darkness beyond."

"How much do you remember, Endymion?" Zoisite asked.

Mamoru shook his head. "Flashes. Impressions. Feelings. Not much more."

Zoisite nodded. "I see," he said, and considered his response for a moment before he began to speak. "The Senshi have always been the guardians of the solar system, Endymion, for as long as our recorded history measures. Tens of thousands of years. They stand guard against the spawn of Chaos." He met Mamoru's gaze. "The universe is not a friendly place for life as we know it. Only those solar systems watched over by a court of Senshi have been made safe for us. The Old Ones resent us. They hate our light and our warmth. The battles between the Outer Senshi and invading Things from Beyond... are legendary."

Mamoru looked thoughtful. "If the Outer Senshi are awake now, has the Earth been infiltrated by these 'spawn of Chaos?'"

Nephrite laughed, and Mamoru looked at him inquiringly. He explained: "Earth was left unguarded for ten thousand years, my prince. It is not merely likely. It is certain."

Mamoru let out a long, slow breath, feeling the cold weight of fear settle over him. Things were worse than he thought. "I see. And what of the third senshi?"

"Describe her for us," Jadeite said.

"She had dark red hair," Mamoru began. "It was unbound, and it went down to about her shoulders. Her tiara had a white gem. Her senshi uniform had a dark purple skirt, boots the same shade, and a dark red bow."

"Did she hold a weapon?"

Mamoru nodded. "A glaive."

The generals looked fearful now, though they hadn't before – not even when discussing the potential infestation of the Earth by the spawn of Chaos.

"Who is she?" Mamoru asked.

"Sailor Saturn," Kunzite breathed.

"Who is she?" Mamoru asked a second time.

"The bringer of Silence. If she's awake..." Kunzite shook his head. "She was a kind of emergency measure. The heavy artillery of the Senshi. For her to awaken, it means that the world will soon be facing a choice between destruction at her hands, and something far, far worse."

"What?"

"The last time such a thing occurred... the asteroid belt was the result."

Mamoru's eyes were wide now. He rose to his feet. "I have to warn Usako and the others," he said.

"We hope that Sailor Moon can find a way to stop the Silence of the world, my Prince," Kunzite said, "For your sake. But you may find that Silence is preferable to the alternative."

The generals bowed as one, and then faded away.

Mamoru rushed out the door.

* * *

Ranma's first day at Mugen Gakuen went surprisingly well from the perspective of a former Furinkan student. She arrived at the school on time, and went first to the office to get her new schedule. A quick printout later, she was sent to her home room.

The class was full of students, all wearing the same eye-stabbing colour scheme of the Mugen Gakuen school uniform. "Class," the teacher was saying as Ranma walks in. "We have a new student, today. Please give a warm welcome to Ranma Saotome."

Everyone looked up. Rumor had it, Ranma was a transfer from one of the worst schools in Japan: Furinkan High School. Still, even if she was from a bad school, she was gorgeous. Although she wore a male school uniform, it simply didn't conceal her femininity at all; unlike Haruka, Ranma just didn't have the build that would allow her to pass for a boy, for all that her body language all but screamed 'masculine.'

"Ranma, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"

Ranma glances at the board, and then sweatdropped, seeing her name written with the Kanji, 'Orchid Room.' She went to the board, erased her name, and rewrote it as 'Wild Horse.' "I'm Ranma Saotome," she said. "My name is spelled this way." She gestured at the board. "I like martial arts."

The class looked at her strangely. Did she have no interests other than martial arts?

"Ranma comes to us from Nerima," the teacher said by way of explanation. The tension level in the class room raised slightly. Everyone had heard stories of crazy Neriman martial artists. "Ranma, why don't you take the empty seat over by Tenoh."

Ranma nodded, and sat down in the indicated seat. As the teacher began her lesson, Ranma glanced at 'Tenoh.'

That's odd. He seemed awfully pretty for a boy. Focusing her vision a bit, she looked more closely at this 'Tenoh,' observing the student's aura. Huh. Despite appearances (and despite the male uniform), it seemed that Tenoh was a girl. Ranma might have been fooled had she not just moved from cross-dresser central.

Just behind Tenoh sat another girl, this one incredibly lovely, with aquamarine hair and an air of elegance. Tenoh glanced at Ranma and nodded her recognition, and Ranma nodded back. It felt like an acknowledgement between men.

The day dragged on, and soon, Ranma was bored.

Bored bored bored.

Dangerously bored.

Still, she forced herself to pay attention. Every time she started to drift off to sleep, she remembered her mother's challenge. Ain't no way Ranma Saotome was going to lose. If she could beat a Phoenix, she could beat school. Though she really, really didn't like the uniform. It felt... constricting. She wished she had something that was easier to fight in. It did not occur to Ranma that it would be odd to get into fights at school: where she'd come from, it wasn't.

Two teachers filtered through as the class moved from period to period, and the class remained in the same room. Instead of listening to one teacher go on about history, she was listening to another teacher, some red-headed chick by the name of Yuko Arimura, go on and on about Philosophy, which she kept bringing back to the subject of the purity of a person's heart. Eventually, blessedly, the lunch bell rang, and Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. Bento in hand, she hopped smoothly out the classroom window and into the courtyard below.

The whole class surged to the window, expecting to see the new girl dead in the courtyard five stories below: instead, she was perfectly fine, and walking casually over to a tree in the courtyard. The class exchanged shocked looks. All but the teacher, Ms. Arimura, who wrote down Ranma's name in her notebook with a comment next to it: 'possible Mistress 9 host.'

In the courtyard below, Ranma took a seat at the base of the tree, opened her bento and prepared to eat her lunch. She had finished off two rice balls before she was interrupted by a shadow passing over her. She looked up.

Tenoh was standing over her, with that other girl at her side.

"Whaddya want?" Ranma asked.

Tenoh leaned down with a playful smile. "Hey princess, pretty girls shouldn't be jumping out windows, don't you think? The stairs are much better."

Ranma blinked. "I ain't a princess. An' besides, it's no big deal. I've been training since I could walk."

"You gave the class quite a scare, Saotome," the girl with aquamarine hair said.

While the first approach had inspired only defensiveness, this second approach actually did work. Ranma puts a hand to the base of her pigtail and blushes. "Sorry," she said.

Michiru laughed lightheartedly at Ranma's reaction. "I'm Michiru. This is Haruka." She glanced at Haruka, and then stage-whispered to Ranma, "Don't be fooled. She'll break your heart before you can blink if you aren't careful."

"Are you jealous?" Haruka asked.

Michiru glanced at Haruka coyly. "Maybe."

Ranma looked from Haruka, to Michiru, and back, and then shrugged, clearly not understanding what was going on between the two girls.

"Do you mind if we sit with you, Saotome?" Michiru asked.

Ranma blinked. "Why?"

Haruka smiled winsomely. "You seem like an interesting person," she said, pouring on the charm.

Ranma's blush came back in full force, and she shook her head. "Go ahead." She looked at Michiru, and fought back another blush. "And call me Ranma."

Haruka and Michiru sat down next to Ranma and pulled out their own bentos.

* * *

It was lunchtime at Azabu Juuban Junior High, but much to Usagi's horror, she and the other girls were not eating. No, instead, they were gathered in an empty classroom (minus Rei, who went to another school), talking to Mamoru, who had only just finished telling them what he'd learned in his information gathering.

His announcement was greeted with shock and horror. Somewhere out there, right now, was a Senshi with the power to destroy the world.

"We should track her down," Makoto said, cracking her knuckles, "and get rid of her before she can destroy the world."

Minako nodded in agreement. "Senshi or no, she has no right to destroy my beautiful world. Is there any way to track her?"

Ami produced the Mercury computer and checked a few figures before speaking. "I've cross-referenced the computer's passive scans with the time Mamoru said that he encountered the new Senshi, and I was able to pick up a power spike of Silver Millennium energy, but before and after that, there's nothing. I don't think we'll be able to track her by her energy signature. We'll have to find her some other way."

Usagi shook her head. "We can't kill her. She's one of us!"

"You heard Mamoru," Makoto said coldly. "The last time Sailor Saturn was awake, an entire planet was destroyed! Do you want that to happen to Earth?"

"I know, and of course I don't want that to happen!" Usagi exclaimed. "But I'm sure that if we all get together, we'll find another way. We can convince her not to destroy the world. There's no need to sacrifice anyone." She spoke passionately, and compassion burned fiercely in her eyes.

Makoto's expression softened. "Usagi," she said fondly, "Don't ever change."

"Even if all we want to do is talk to her," Mamoru said, "We still need to find her."

"Mamoru, you said you saw her watching one of our battles against the Daimons, right?" Ami asked.

Mamoru nodded. "Correct."

"Then it's possible that she'll show up if there are more attacks." Ami looked up at the clock. "But for now, we should really get back to class."

The bell rang a moment later.

Usagi blinked, and then grew distressed. "I still haven't eaten my lunch!" she wailed.

Sailor Saturn did not show herself that night, nor the next, nor even the next, though there were Daimon attacks on two of those nights. By Friday morning, the Inner Senshi were growing downright antsy at the total lack of contact. The idea that somewhere out there was a girl with the power to destroy the world was a frightening one, and even if they weren't going to attack her, the fact that she was out there doing who knows what instead of in here with them made them afraid: afraid of what might be happening.

* * *

For Ranma's part, she spent those three days in peace, struggling through her first three days of school, struggling with her homework, and hanging out with the two new friends she had made at school: Haruka and Michiru. Although it was hard, she was reasonably happy, and it seemed as though she had finally escaped the chaos that had been her life in Nerima. She thought it could go on like that forever.

She was wrong.

It started on the way home from school on Friday. Ranma had gotten a ride from Haruka and Michiru. She was sitting in the back seat, and her dark red hair streamed out behind her in the wind of their passage.

The car pulled to a stop at a stop light.

That was when the screams began. Feminine screams of outrage.

"SWEETO!" a familiar voice cried.

Oh no. Oh, hell no. She hadn't just heard that. He wasn't here. It was an optica... audito... hearing illusion. Her ears were playing tricks on her.

"Aaah, panties!" the voice cried again, followed by a number of outraged feminine shrieks. Traffic stopped, and people were craning their heads to see what was coming. It was no illusion. Happosai, a sack full of panties slung over his shoulder, bounded ahead of a mob of outraged women.

"GET BACK HERE YOU PERVERT!" one of them yelled. "Give us back our underwear!" Another shrieked.

Ranma put her head in her hands.

Haruka pulled her car over to the side of the road. "What do you think, Michiru? Shall we teach this panty thief a lesson?"

"SWEETO!" Happosai cried again, glomping on to Ranma's chest.

Haruka stared in shock. She hadn't even seen the old man move. How had he crossed the distance between them so quickly.

"Ranma, here you are! And... can it be?" he held up a black cotton bra and panties, and immediately went starry-eyed. "Ranma, you shouldn't have!" he cried, hugging the underwear.

Ranma flung the old pervert off of her chest. "Get away from me, you old freak!" she yelled.

Happosai landed easily on the top of a lamp-post. The mob of angry women quickly surrounded it. He continued to rub Ranma's underwear against his cheek. "Aw, Ranma-my-boy, you know better than that. You can't beat me so easily. I have to admit, I'm surprised to see you here." He dodged a bowling ball that was flung by an angry woman. "When you vanished from Nerima, everyone thought you had gone on another training trip. At least, that's what Nabiki sold us." He produced a pipe and began to parry the assorted bowling pins, rhythmic gymnastic ribbons, daggers, and silverware that the women were throwing at him.

Haruka and Michiru were out of the car, then, scooping up discarded items to pelt the old letch with.

Ranma hopped out of the car. "Listen, ya old goat," she said angrily, "You leave me alone, got it? I just got my life under control again, and I don't need you coming in to mess it up!" She saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. A woman was there who hadn't been there before. Not someone familiar. A redhead. Pretty, too. She wore a very sexy red dress with a scooping V neckline, and she was very, very pale. Ranma returned her attention to Happosai, who had relieved Haruka and Michiru of their underwear.

The two Outer Senshi shrieked angrily, throwing everything they could find at the perverted old martial arts master.

The red-head, meanwhile, observing the scene, did the most sensible thing she could think of: she allowed the Daimon egg to merge with her own panties. Damn that Professor. He had better appreciate the sacrifices she made for her work.

A moment later, Happosai was holding Kaolinite's panties in hand, rubbing them against his cheek with great joy. "Pretty lady!" he said.

The panties began to glow.

"What?" he asked, shocked, and dropped the glowing panties.

They floated there in the air for a long moment. Then there was a flash of light, and the Daimon appeared in their place. "PANSUTO!" she cried.

It is necessary to move in slow steps to describe Pansuto. Imagine Mai Shiranui. Now imagine Miss Shiranui with light purple skin. Now imagine a purple skinned Mai Shiranui with her hair in pigtails, with bunny ears on the top of her head, and clad only in incredibly skimpy red lingerie.

For what may have been the first time in her life, Ranma got a nosebleed.

Silence hung over the street for a long moment as everyone stared at the monster, totally, utterly nonplused at the sight.

"GET HIS HEART CRYSTAL, PANSUTO!" the red-headed woman cried, floating up into the air.

Oh. A monster attack. This was a bit more familiar to the populace of Juuban. People immediately ran screaming.

Ranma lost sight of Haruka and Michiru in the press of bodies, but Happosai remained where he was, staring at the Daimon with starry eyes. "For me?" he asked, on the verge of tears of happiness.

"PANSUTO!" Pansuto cried, and pulled down her bra. Instead of what would ordinarily be beneath a human's bra, beneath Pansuto's were twin black stars that emanated a dark power that surely would have seemed more intimidating has it not been coming from her breasts.

"PRETTY LADY!" Happosai cried, and leaped to glomp the ample bosom so freely presented to him.

"Damnit, y'old freak!" Ranma cried, trying to jump kick Happosai out of the way.

The red-haired woman's hair shot out, growing to incredible length, and wrapping around Ranma's arm before flinging her across the street and through a window on the far side. "No interference," she said, glaring at the pig-tailed girl.

A black beam of energy shot out from Pansuto's black stars, piercing Happosai's chest. He screamed in agony, and then slumped down to the ground as a glowing crystal floated up into the air above him. The light given off by the crystal was nearly blinding, so strong was the purity of the perversion it had absorbed.

"Surely this is a Talisman!" the red-head – Kaolinite – exclaimed, moving to grab the floating crystal.

"WORLD SHAKING!" a woman's voice cried, and a ball of brilliant yellow energy came flying from behind Kaolinite. It smashed into her and she went skidding across the pavement.

Uranus and Neptune had arrived.

"We won't let you have your way," Uranus announced. "Invited by a new age, I am Sailor Uranus, appearing beautifully!"

"Also invited by a new age," Neptune jumped in immediately, "I am Sailor Neptune, appearing gracefully!"

"Pansuto! Get them!" Kaolinite called, clambering back to her feet. She teleported next to the heart crystal, but she was too late: Neptune had already seized it and leaped away.

Neptune raised an eyebrow. "This is... not a talisman!" she announced.

Kaolinite ground her teeth. So much trouble, and not even a talisman?

"PANSUTO!" Pansuto cried, tearing off her bra and flinging it at Uranus. Almost instantly, a new bra appeared, covering what dubiously little amount of dignity the Daimon had.

"You can't be serious," Uranus said, and moved to kick the bra aside. The bra wrapped around her legs like a weighted bola, and down she went.

"Uranus!" Neptune cried, almost giggling at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.

Kaolinite teleported in front of Neptune and blasted her with her hair. Propelled by the force of Kaolinite's magical hair growth, Neptune went flying into a nearby car, denting the door visibly.

"Now," Kaolinite said, "Finish them off, Daimon."

Pansuto turned loomed over Uranus, grinning widely.

"HEY UGLY!" Saturn shouted as she leaped off of a nearby roof.

The Daimon had just enough time to look up before it was neatly bisected from the top of its head down to the crotch by the Silence Glaive. "Urk!" it managed, and then split it half, and dissolved into a puddle of pinkish slime.

Sailor Saturn hit the ground with a crack, spider webbing the street beneath her point of impact. She gave the remains of the Daimon a disgusted look. "Ah, what the hell?" she asked, hopping back from the spreading pool of pink goo.

Kaolinite glared down at the new arrival, but she knew when to retreat. She was down a Daimon. It was time to leave. With a flash, she vanished into thin air.

As the Daimon's power faded, the bra-bola binding Uranus's legs dissolved, and she rose to her feet. She was quickly joined by Neptune.

"Hey, you two OK?" Saturn asked.

But the friendly words were lost on the two Outer Senshi. Confronted by the realization of all their fears, they stared in shock at the new Senshi.

"Sailor... Saturn..." Neptune mouthed in horror.

Saturn seized Happosai's heart crystal and gave it a long look. "I suppose I really can't not put it back," she grumbled after a moment, and pushed it back into the shrunken old pervert's chest.

"WORLD SHAKING!"

"DEEP SUBMERGE!"

Alerted by her danger sense, Saturn immediately leaped up into the air and over the attacks, which slammed heavily into the car that Happosai had been resting against, sending it spinning across the street.

Saturn came down in a defensive stance, brandishing the Silence Glaive against the other two Senshi. "OK," she said, "What gives?"

"We won't let you end this world, Saturn," Uranus said coldly. She and Neptune charged, taking the fight to hand to hand.

They were good, and Ranma didn't really want to hurt them. Ranma dodged and weaved, barely avoiding their attacks, and occasionally having to block instead of dodge. "What! End the world?"

At that moment, a red bolt flashed across her vision, and a loud crack echoed across the now deserted street.

A rose was embedded in the concrete between Saturn and the Outer Duo. All three looked up in surprise. "Tuxedo Mask?" Neptune asked.

He and all the Inner Senshi stood across the way, ready for combat.

"Those who attack innocent Senshi shall not be forgiven!" Sailor Moon announced. "Agent of love and justice, I am Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Saturn tried very hard not to laugh. This day was going from weird to weirder. At least the old freak hadn't woken up yet.

"Stay out of this, Sailor Moon!" Uranus shouted. "You don't know what you're dealing with. We have to stop her before she..."

"Ends the world?" Sailor Moon asked. "We know. We're not going to let that happen, but we're not going to kill her just because of what she might do!"

"You don't have the right to make that decision!" Neptune cried. "The fate of the world is at stake!"

Sailor Moon glanced to Sailor Mercury. "Mercury! Now!"

Mercury nodded. "SHABON SPRAY!" she cried, sending forth a wave of nearly impenetrable fog.

Under cover of fog, the Inner Senshi darted over to Saturn.

"Come on, we'll get you to safety," Mars said, putting her hand on Saturn's shoulder.

Saturn shook her head incredulously, and for a moment, the Inners thought she would refuse their offer. Then she sighed heavily and said, "OK."

They escaped under cover of fog, leaving a very frustrated Uranus and Neptune in their wake.

They roof-hopped for a while, darting from city block to city block, until they were sure they weren't being followed. Then the whole group changed course, flitting from shadow to shadow, and heading for the Hikawa Shrine.

They came to a stop at last in the courtyard. The shrine was empty, and the lights were off: Rei's grandfather and Yuichiro were away for the week.

"It should be safe here," Sailor Mars said.

Saturn nodded bemusedly. "If you say so. So can one of ya tell me why those other two Senshi attacked me?"

Suddenly, Saturn was glomped from behind by an emotionally distraught Sailor Moon. "WE DON'T WANT YOU TO DESTROY THE WORLD!" Sailor Moon cried aloud.

Saturn blinked, twisting out of Moon's grip, thoroughly confused. "What?"

The other Senshi looked embarrassed by Moon's behavior, but jumped in nonetheless. "It may seem like you have to," Mercury said, "But please, let us find another way. You don't have to do it."

Thoroughly nonplused, Saturn looked from one senshi to the next. "I, uh, I don't wanna destroy the world."

"Nobody wants to destroy the world," Usagi said, trying her best to sound convincing, "But you have to promise me you won't... what?"

"I'm not going to destroy the world," Saturn said again, and from the tone of her voice, she found the very idea to be ridiculous.

The Senshi looked at each other, then back at Saturn.

"We were told you were going to end the world," Mamoru said, somewhat sheepishly.

"Where did ya get that crazy idea?" Saturn asked. "I ain't out to destroy anything. I don't even know if I could if I wanted to." Even as she voiced her doubt, she knew it was a lie. That power was there. Waiting. Ready to be unsealed at a moment's notice.

"Senshi huddle!" Moon announced, and all the Senshi plus Tuxedo Mask gathered around her. Quick, fierce whispers were exchanged back and forth between them, with several of them looking up at Saturn suspiciously at various points in the group whisper-fest. Then, after about a minute, they walked back over to Sailor Saturn.

"I'm Sailor Moon," Moon announced cheerfully.

"Sailor Mercury," Mercury said.

"Sailor Jupiter."

"Sailor Venus."

"Sailor Mars."

Saturn nodded, still a bit nonplused, but better able to respond now. "Uh, hi," she said, holding up a hand in an approximation of a wave. "I'm Ra..." She trailed off, and then started again. "I'm Saturn. I already know the Tux-boy." She indicated Tuxedo Mask.

An awkward silence passed between them. Then Saturn asked, "So, uh, was there anything else ya wanted?"

The Senshi shook their heads, clearly embarrassed.

"Right. See ya around." Saturn turned to leave.

"Wait!" Moon called.

"What now?"

"Uranus and Neptune. You should explain things to them, too, otherwise they'll still think you're evil!"

Saturn looked doubtful. "They don't really seem like the type ta let me explain much," she said, "But I'll see what I can do." She turned to go once more.

"Wait!" Venus called.

Saturn turned around again, now slightly irritated. "What?"

"Will you help us against the Daimons? We saw how you handled that one today. You were incredible!"

"Only answer I got for ya is the same answer I gave Tux-boy the other night," Saturn said, and leaped off out of the temple grounds before they had a chance to interrupt her again.

The Senshi looked to Tuxedo Mask expectantly.

"What answer did she give you the other night, Mamoru?" Mercury asked.

Tuxedo Mask smiled faintly and put an arm around Sailor Moon. "She's thinking about it," he said.

Moon smiled hopefully.

* * *

It's pretty rare for anything to go right in the life of Ranma Saotome. It's the Chaos principle in action, you see. A butterfly flaps its wings in Chicago, and a Chinese Prince comes looking for a bride in Nerima instead of in his local villages.

Tonight, not much had gone right for Ranma. What was one more thing to go wrong? Not too far away from the Hikawa shrine, a shrunken old pervert was roof-hopping his way back to Nerima, lost in thought. Not over the near loss of a pure heart crystal formed from the purity of his perversion, though that did bother him a bit. No, Happosai was thinking of something else entirely.

So Ranma was living in Azabu Juuban now, was she? Things had gotten pretty boring in Nerima since the boy had left. Maybe it was time to stir up some trouble. Yes... trouble was exactly what needed stirring up.

He knew just the way.

END CHAPTER 03

Author's notes:

I'm very, very sorry. Once the thought of extracting Happosai's heart crystal entered into my mind, everything snowballed from there. :D

In other news, I'm going for a slightly longer chapter format now. It will take a little longer to write, but I'm liking the way the fifteen page chapters flow much better than ten pagers. I might experiment with longer ones as well, I guess we'll see.


	5. Accepting

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 4 – Accepting

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit. This chapter is partially based on episode 95 of Sailor Moon ('Koino otasuke ha Moon ni omakase'), and contains quotes from said episode. My source materials for the episode were my subtitled copy of Sailor Moon S and the episode guide provided by Hitoshi Doi.

-------------------

"Ranma!" Haruka called.

Ranma looked up. It was Saturday, and school had only just begun. "Hey Haruka. Michiru."

"We were worried about you, Ranma-san," Michiru said. "After we lost track of you during the monster attack, we were afraid you might have gotten hurt."

Ranma puffed up her chest. "I'm a martial artist. It'll take more than some stupid monster to put me in danger."

"Oh? Why didn't you stay and fight, then?"

"I... uh..." Ranma seriously considered telling them about being Sailor Saturn, but then shook her head. "The Sailor Senshi looked like they had it under control," she muttered.

Michiru rolled her eyes, and Haruka laughed.

Although the rest of the day passed without incident, Ranma grew increasingly quieter as the day went on. Later, as she walked home from school, she found herself deep in thought.

**FLASH**

"We won't let you end this world, Saturn," Uranus said coldly.

**FLASH**

End the world. Did she really have that kind of power? The other Senshi thought so, and no matter how much she wanted to deny it, Ranma found that she couldn't disagree with them. She had felt that power there, waiting, every time she held the Silence Glaive. She very nearly laughed. All it took for the entire world to be destroyed was for a sixteen year old girl to swing a glaive at it. The entire world, wiped out in an instant because she willed it. The very idea of such power downright terrified her. She tried not to imagine what someone like Ryouga or Kuno would do with it.

As she walked into her mother's house, Ranma's thoughts turned to her upcoming date with Akane. She didn't call it a date in her thoughts – she wasn't nearly brave enough - but it was a date to her nonetheless. Why did everything have to be so difficult? She loved Akane, but how could Akane possibly love her back when she was stuck like this? She wasn't even a man anymore, for all that she might try to pretend otherwise.

Ranma grew despondent.

Maybe she should just call Akane and cancel the whole thing.

Yes, that's exactly what she should do.

She went downstairs, picked up the phone, and called the Tendo home.

"Hello?" Akane asked.

Immediately upon hearing Akane's voice, Ranma's resolve failed her, and she hung up. Damn.

A moment later, the phone rang.

"Hello?" Ranma asked, raising the receiver to her ear.

"Hey Ranma," Akane said.

"Uh, hey Akane," Ranma said, "What's up?"

"You tell me. You called here, didn't you?"

Ranma flushed red, though Akane couldn't see it. "Uh, yeah, uh, that is, I just wanted to... make sure you were still coming!"

Ranma couldn't see Akane's face, but she was pretty sure Akane didn't believe her. "Are you all right, Ranma?" Akane asked.

"Fine! Fine!" Ranma replied, panicking, "See you tomorrow!" she hung up the phone.

On her end, Akane looked at the phone thoughtfully for a long moment, then shook her head, and walked off.

--------------

The next day, Sunday, Ranma's normal morning routine did not change. Get tossed out the window. Spar with Genma. Eat breakfast. Get cleaned up and dressed (she put on a pair of black slacks and a blue silk Chinese shirt) and ready for the day. "Have fun!" Nodoka called as Ranma was walking out the door, and Ranma smiled a confident smile.

"I will. Later!" And off she went.

Her heart was racing in her chest as she walked to the Azabu Juuban subway station, and Ranma found that she had a hard time believing that Akane was really going to be there, that the tomboy wanted anything to do with a freak like her. But no, she wouldn't be beaten before she had even fought. She pushed her doubts and fears aside.

So caught up was she in her destination and in her thoughts that Ranma did not notice the white station wagon with the black star on each side that was following him. In the station wagon, Yuko Arimura – Eudial of the Witches 5 - watched the pig-tailed girl carefully, taking notes on the readings she is getting from her scanning device.

Ranma headed into the Azabu Juuban subway station. Eudial got out of her car and moved to follow, but then a man with large, bulbous eyes, a narrow forehead and a flat nose stepped in front of her, looking at her disapprovingly. She swallowed nervously and went back the way she had come.

The pig-tailed girl sat down on one of the only available seats in the crowded station and began the long wait for Akane's train. It would be another two minutes before it arrived, but it felt more like two hours. After about a minute, Ranma got antsy, stood up, and started pacing. Was Akane really coming? What if she'd missed her train? What if she'd gotten sick? Maybe she should go call the Tendo home and find out how it was going.

"Ranma!"

Ranma turned. There was Akane, dressed in a beautiful yellow sundress, stepping off the train. Ranma's face brightened visibly. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.

They went to the Crown Fruit Parlor (above the Crown Arcade) at _10th Street Shopping_ for some ice cream. As they sat down at a table together, Akane smiled. "Things have been pretty quiet since you left," she said.

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Quiet?"

Akane nodded. "I haven't heard much from Shampoo or Mousse. Ukyou's doing well. Ucchan's has been doing really good business this past week. She told me that she thinks she might need to hire some more people to work for her."

Ranma nodded, a smiling faintly. "Good for her."

"Ryouga stops in every now and then. He says he's been spending time with Akari. And Kuno... well, Kuno is Kuno. Both of them. Some things never change, I guess. Your turn, Ranma. How has Minato been?"

Ranma shrugged. "Eh, it's ok I guess."

When he didn't go on, Akane grew irritated. "OK you guess?" she asked. "I haven't seen you in a week, Ranma."

"Oh. Uh... I'm going to that other school now. You know, Infinity Academy?"

Akane's eyes widened. "How did you manage that?"

"Mom said she had people who owed her favors."

"You were never a very good student, though. Isn't it really hard for you?"

Ranma glared. "Hey, I ain't that stupid."

"I didn't say you were stupid, Ranma, I just said you weren't a very good student."

Ranma's glare faded, and she nodded. "I guess. It's really hard, yeah, but ain't nothin' too hard for Ranma Saotome."

"I'm glad you think so."

Ranma blinked. That sounded ominous. Like the other shoe was about to drop.

"We need to talk," Akane said.

"We are, aren't we?"

"About us, I mean."

Oh hell. Ranma suppressed a shudder. Mushy, feely type stuff. She'd never been very good at that.

"Do you still love me?" Akane asked, point blank.

Shock washed over Ranma's awareness, and for a moment, the old denials and avoidances threatened to overwhelm her sense. Through sheer strength of will, she forced them down. She nodded.

Akane smiled. "I love you too," she said, and Ranma's world dissolved until it contained nothing but Akane. "But with you stuck as a girl..."

Ranma's elation faded. Oh. Yeah. Damnit, it wasn't fair! How could she possibly have let herself get turned into a girl forever? She loved Akane!

Akane watched the play of emotions off of Ranma's face for a moment, and then continued. "I love you, Ranma. I don't know if we can be together with you stuck as a girl full time..."

Ranma watched Akane, dreading what she was certain the other girl was going to say next.

"... but I want to try."

Ranma stared at her fiancée. Maybe, just maybe, there was hope after all. "Me too," she whispered. Then, louder, she said, "Well, of course you want to try. I'm pretty hot, ya know? Who wo..."

Akane cut Ranma off before she could stick her foot any further into her mouth. "Just kiss me already, baka," she said.

Suitably chastened, Ranma leaned in to kiss Akane, and Akane to kiss Ranma, and then...

"Ah, Ranma-san!" Michiru called.

The moment was lost. Both Ranma and Akane looked up. Haruka and Michiru were standing there, both of them looking as elegant as ever.

"Are we interrupting?" Haruka asked, with a slight hint of suggestiveness in her voice.

"Not at all!" Akane said. "Ranma, why don't you introduce me to your friends?"

"Oh, uh, right. Akane, this is Haruka, and the green-haired chick is Michiru."

Michiru raised an eyebrow at being called 'the green-haired chick,' and Akane sweatdropped.

"Haruka, Michiru, this is my fiancée, Akane."

Michiru's irritation vanished instantly, and she looked at Akane, surprised. "Fiancée?" she asked, exchanging a significant look with Haruka.

"Our parents arranged it," Akane said.

"I'm sure there's quite a story behind that," Michiru said, looking from Ranma, to Akane, and back.

Akane blushed.

"You don't know the half of it," Ranma said.

"You're on a date, right?" Haruka asked.

Ranma's eyes went wide, and she became too flustered to reply, and Akane blushed.

Michiru laughed gently. "We're going to the couple's contest at Lover's Park. You two should come along. It could be fun."

Haruka leaned down and took Akane's hand. "Who knows? Maybe you'll find someone who's better for you than this martial arts nut."

Ranma's eye began to twitch, and so did Michiru's.

Akane blushed intensely. "I, ah..."

"Don't listen to her, Akane-san," Michiru said, giving Haruka an annoyed look. "She always says that sort of thing to cute girls."

"You're jealous," Haruka said, proud to have gotten a rise out of her girlfriend.

Michiru smiled fondly, shook her head, and said nothing.

"So, will you come?" Haruka asked, producing a pair of extra tickets.

Ranma and Akane exchanged glances, and then Akane nodded. "Un."

------------------

Haruka, Michiru, Ranma, and Akane arrived at the park about ten minutes later. It was a beautiful place; a small pond was in the center of the park, and there were rowboats available for couples who wanted to rent them. A large grove of cherry trees overlooked the pond, though they were not now in bloom. On the other side of the pond was a beautiful flower garden. Near the cherry grove, a stage had been set up, and a large crowd was gathered there. Akane didn't know any of the people, and neither did Ranma. A number of couples were gathering near the stage, and the four girls were headed over that way when a girl's voice calls out, "Haruka-san! Michiru-san!"

Haruka and company all turned. Five girls were standing nearby, looking at them. All of them were beautiful. The first had blue eyes and long blonde hair that went down past her back. The second had green eyes and brown hair tied back in a pony tail. The third had blue eyes with short, bluish hair. The fourth had long black hair and dark eyes. The last – the one who had spoke – was another blonde. Her eyes were blue, and her hair was done up in a strange style.

"Ah, Odango-atama," Haruka said, smiling.

"Who are your friends, Haruka-san?" one of the blonde girls asked.

Haruka glanced at Ranma.

"Ranma Saotome," Ranma said.

"Akane Tendo," Akane said, and bowed. "You are?"

Minako smiled brightly. "I'm Minako Aino!" she said excitedly. "And these are..." Each girl spoke up in turn.

"Makoto Kino."

"Rei Hino."

"Ami Mizuno. It's nice to meet you!"

"Ano? Where is Mamo-chan?"

The others sweatdropped.

"This is Usagi Tsukino," Rei said apologetically. "U-SA-GI! You should pay attention when you're being introduced to people!"

Usagi smiled brightly, turning towards Ranma and Akane. "Ah! Nice to meet you!" Usagi said.

Michiru and Haruka looked amused.

"Uh, sure," Ranma said, looking uncertainly at the girls.

"You'll have to excuse Ranma" Akane said, thoroughly amused. "He's not used to being around so many girls without at least one of them either wanting to marry him or kill him."

Everyone looked at Akane strangely.

It took her a moment to realize why that had sounded odd. She was so used to calling Ranma 'he' that it didn't even occur to her that people who had not known about the curse or his life in Nerima would think it really weird to hear a pretty girl referred to with a male pronoun. Akane blushed intensely, embarrassed by her mistake.

"Are they in 'that kind' of relationship?" Minako whispered to Rei.

Rei nodded, and whispers back, "Probably. Ranma's not nearly as cool as Haruka, though!"

Ami very studiously pretended not to be listening, and Ranma, though she heard the whispers, didn't get it at all.

"Were you raised as a boy, Ranma-san?" Usagi asked.

Ranma got that look in his eyes – the one Akane had come to recognize as an impending foot-in-the-mouth, and puffed up her chest, but Akane stomped on her foot before she had the chance to announce her masculinity.

"It's terrible, isn't it?" Akane cut in. "Her father wanted a boy, so he took her away on a martial arts training trip for ten years, raising her as a boy on the road!"

The eyes of the other girls widened at that. "That's awful!" Usagi exclaimed. "You must be very glad to be back from that trip, Ranma-san. Having to pretend to be a boy would be really hard."

Ranma and Akane both sweatdropped heavily. "Uh," Ranma said intelligently, "Right."

Makoto looked interested, though. "What martial art to you practice, Ranma-san?" she asked.

"Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu," Ranma replied proudly. "It's only practiced by two families, but it's a very powerful style. You do Kenpo, right?"

Makoto nodded.

"How did you know?" Usagi asked.

Makoto looked to Usagi. "A fighter can sense the fighting spirit of another, Usagi-chan."

"Ooooh," Usagi said, looking from Ranma, to Makoto, and back. She couldn't sense any 'fighting spirit' coming from them. What she could sense was Rei's irritation.

"Come on, Ranma-san. Akane-san," Haruka said, interrupting them before the conversation could continue any further. "If we don't get to the stage, they'll start without us."

Akane smiled. "Gotta go," she said.

"Nice meeting you!" Usagi called in very bad English.

The two couples headed on over to the stage.

"OK!" The organizer of the event said, stepping forward to get a look at the couples. "Step right up, then, and we'll begin as soon as you write down your names in the 'couples' box on the big board.

Each couple did so, and when Ranma and Akane wrote their names in a 'couples' box, the organizer looked at them very strangely. "You're a couple?" she asked.

Ranma blushed, but Akane nodded fiercely. "Is that a problem?" Akane asked.

The organizer shook her head. "No, no problem. We just weren't expecting it is all. Enjoy the games!"

They walked up onto the stage, and the Couples Games began.

The first game was simple enough: each of the 'girlfriends' went behind a big black curtain that hid about half the stage. They then stuck their hands through the curtain.

The announcer turned to the boys (plus Ranma and Haruka, though Haruka could and did pass for a boy at the moment). "The rules for the first game are simple. How well do you know your girlfriend? Can you find them based only on the shape and feel of their hand?" He looked over the group of boys, and then pointed to Haruka. "You, son, you go first."

Haruka immediately went over to the curtain and held one of the hands sticking through it.

"OK!" the announcer said. "No doubt in his mind at all! He went right to his choice. Now," the announcer looked at the board to get Haruka's name, "Haruka, call your girlfriend's name, and see if you got it right."

"Michiru, you can come out," Haruka said.

Michiru stepped out from behind the curtain. Haruka had chosen correctly. The crowd cheered.

"Next we have..." the announcer glanced at Ranma, "A beautiful young lady in the deepest throes of a forbidden love!" He played it up, making it sound as melodramatic as possible. The crowd loved it, cheering wildly. "Ranma Saotome, find your girlfriend!"

Ranma got very flustered, but her denials died on her lips. She had already agreed to this challenge, and there was no way she was backing out now. She studied the hands sticking through the curtain carefully as time ticked away.

"She doesn't seem very confident to me," the announcer said, "But who knows? Maybe her love will guide her to the correct choice! Believe in yourself, girl! Let the power of your love guide you!"

Ranma shot the announcer a disbelieving look, and then walked over and took Akane's hand.

"All right! Now call your girlfriend's name and see if you got it right!"

"Hey Akane," Ranma said as casually as she could manage.

Akane stepped through the curtain, and the crowd burst into cheers and applause.

The contest continued like that for a while, with Haruka and Michiru winning almost every game. Ranma and Akane were fairly close behind them, but it was hard to match the other two girls. Then came time for the final game.

"OK! You're all doing very, very well, but now it's time for the final challenge!" The announcer sounded very excited. "The rules are simple: the boyfriend must confess his love to the girlfriend. The audience will judge whose confession was the most moving, and whoever gets the most applause will win! Are you ready to show everyone just how pure your heart is?"

Cheers went up from the crowd, but at the mention of 'pure hearts,' Haruka and Michiru's eyes narrowed, and they exchanged glances.

"First up is Haruka, and his girlfriend, Michiru!"

Haruka and Michiru stepped up to the podium, and everyone held their breath expectantly, waiting for the declaration of love.

Haruka looked at Michiru, who nodded. "The show is over," Haruka said. "We're going to quit. We only entered for fun, and we might win if we continue." She gave Michiru a loving glance. "The winner should have a real love," she said ironically. "Love is everything!" They walked off the stage, hand in hand, leaving a stunned audience in their wake.

The announcer looked flustered, but recovered quickly. He called up the next couple, and the boy immediately professed his love for his girlfriend. The audience cheered, and then the next couple went up. It went on like that for a while, until finally, it was Ranma's turn.

Ranma and Akane walked up to the stage, and Ranma stared out at the crowd in a state of near panic.

Akane laughed softly. "It's OK, Ranma. It's a game. Besides, nobody from Nerima is here to hear anything you say. You could say anything you want and they'd never find out about it."

That helped, some. Ranma swallowed heavily, and turned to look at Akane.

Silence.

Silence for about thirty seconds.

Then Usagi shouted encouragingly, "You can do it, Ranma-san!" "You can do it!" Minako echoed.

"Akane, I, uh," Ranma began, not sounding very confident at all, "You know I ain't very good with words. But if I gotta do this to complete the challenge, I guess I gotta do it."

The crowd wasn't sure how to respond to that, but Akane smiled. "Just do your best," she said.

"I know we never really got off well. We've always fought, and there's always been people trying to break us up and stuff. But when I saw you at Phoenix Mountain, and I wasn't sure if ya were even alive, I..." she trailed off, and then tried again. "Look, Akane. Even though your thighs are a little thick, and your chest could be bigger, and..." She trailed off again as she noticed Akane's glare of death. "Uh, I mean, you may be an uncute tomboy, but you're my uncute tomboy, and I..." she trailed off yet again, having difficulty saying what she wanted to say, "I lo... l... I... love you," once she finally managed to pronounce the word, her voice became filled with confidence, "more than anything in the world."

Silence for a long moment. Then the crowd burst into cheers and clapping.

Akane had been angry at first, angry at Ranma for ruining this moment, but then, when she finally said what she was trying to say, the meaning of Ranma's poorly chosen words pierced her heart, and she stared at him in wonder. "Ranma..." she said, amazed.

The audience continued cheering wildly, and the announcer stepped forward. "I think it's clear who the audience has chosen. Ladies and gentlemen, we have our winners!"

The cheers grew louder and wilder, and Ranma and Akane were led to a human-sized statue of Aphrodite in front of the stage. "Now" the announcer said, "Place your hands on the statue, and your love will be forever!"

Ranma put a hand on it, and Akane's joined her hand a moment later.

The statue began to glow brightly with a sinister light. There was a pulse of energy, and Ranma and Akane were pushed back. As the light faded, a Daimon stood in the statue's place. "VENUS!" the Daimon declared, taking the form of a beautiful golden haired goddess with flesh made of stone.

"You gotta be kiddin' me," Ranma said, backing away from the thing.

Daimon-Venus looked at Ranma hungrily. "Your pure heart could hide a talisman, girl!" She brought her hands together, and a black star appeared where they were joined. "Give it to me!" She shot a blast of black energy at Ranma, but Ranma leaped out of the way.

"Get down, Akane!" Ranma said.

The announcer faded away, and the event organizer stepped forward and threw off her disguise, revealing herself as Kaolinite. She laughed wildly. "Take her pure heart, Daimon!"

The crowd scattered.

At that moment, half a dozen female voices called out simultaneously, though the sources of those voices were concealed by the cherry trees: "MERCURY STAR POWER! MAKE UP!" "VENUS STAR POWER! MAKE UP!" "JUPITER STAR POWER! MAKE UP!" "MARS STAR POWER! MAKE UP!" and then "MOON COSMIC POWER! MAKE UP!"

Light pours out from the cherry trees, and everyone turned in surprise to see the Inner Senshi leap out into the open.

"Hold it right there!" Sailor Moon shouted. "Love is love, whether it's between a boy and a girl, a boy and a boy, or a girl and a girl! For attempting to destroy the love that those two only just found, even if Cupid forgives you, I won't! For love and justice, I am the pretty soldier Sailor Moon!"

"Sailor Mars."

"Sailor Mercury."

"Sailor Jupiter."

"In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"

"You aren't the real Venus! I am! In the name of Venus, I'll punish you!"

Ranma shook her head incredulously. Distracted by the awful speechifying of the Sailor Senshi, she was very nearly struck by another blast of dark energy. "Get out of here, Akane!" she yelled. "I'll handle this!"

Akane glared at Ranma. "I'm not going to leave you here, Ranma. I'm a martial artist, too!" She rushed forward and jump-kicked the Daimon.

The Daimon whirled around. "You're not a very well-behaved girl!" It said, and sent a blast of black energy her way.

Akane dove out of the way and rolled back to her feet only to find yet another blast coming her way. This time, she knew she couldn't dodge. At the last possible second, Ranma knocked her out of the way, taking the blast in her stead.

Instantly, Ranma collapsed to the ground, and a glowing crystal emerged from her chest. She stared blankly up at the sky, her eyes utterly empty.

"RANMA!" Akane yelled. Though she had never seen such a thing before, Akane instinctively knew what it was; 'pure heart crystal' was the name her mind supplied.

Kaolinite swooped down to pick up the Heart Crystal, and Akane dashed over to intercept her. Meanwhile, the Daimon turned its attention to the Inner Senshi. Daimon-Venus concentrated intently, and then, as near as Akane could tell, the Inner Senshi just... stopped and stood there, staring blankly.

"WORLD SHAKING!" "DEEP SUBMERGE!" Two spheres of power lanced out and struck the Daimon head on, blasting it into the stage.

The Daimon got up, dusted itself off, and glares at the Outer Duo.

"It's time to fight, not be snared by an illusion," Uranus said. That seemed to mobilize the Inner Senshi, and a moment later, the fight began in earnest.

Kaolinite opened her hand and blasted Akane backwards with a pulse of dark power. Stubbornly, Akane stayed on her feet, glaring at the red-headed woman. She was between Kaolinite and Ranma now, and she was going to protect her fiancé to the death.

"You can't win, girl," Kaolinite said. "Give up the heart crystal, and I'll let you live."

"You can't have it!" Akane replied fiercely. "I won't let you kill Ranma!"

"How touching. Unfortunately, you're ten years too soon to defeat me." Kaolinite's hair grew with incredible speed, and faster than Akane could react, it wrapped around her throat and lifted her up into the air.

She grasped at the hair around her throat, but couldn't get a grip on it. She began to choke. The world began to go black. And then...

"KIJIN RAISHU DAN!" Ranma cried, slicing through the Kaolinite's extended hair with a vacuum blade.

Kaolinite's hair reverted to normal, and she stared at Ranma in shock. "Impossible!" she said.

Ranma, pale and barely able to move, was propped up on one knee, glaring at Kaolinite. "I'm not gonna let you... hurt... Akane..."

Kaolinite opened her hand and sent a pulse of dark energy flying at Ranma.

It struck the pig-tailed girl in the chest, and down she went, barely breathing.

Kaolinite grimaced as she realized that the Senshi had finished off her Daimon. Damn. It was time to retreat again. "You're all ten years too soon to defeat me," she said.

"I don't think so!" Akane yelled, her battle aura manifesting itself visibly. A black star flickered on her forehead.

Kaolinite turned... and froze. She gasped in surprise. "This power...!"

The Senshi were almost on top of her now. She opened her hand to blast them away.

Nothing.

Beginning to panic now, Kaolinite concentrated intently, trying to teleport away.

Nothing.

Kaolinite looked desperately down at Akane. "We're on the same side!" she cried. "You should be helping me, not fighting me!"

Akane glared at the woman.

"Sailor Moon!" Venus called, "Now!"

"MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!"

Akane stared in flat disbelief as Sailor Moon blasted Kaolinite with what appeared to be an energy blast in the shape of a big red heart.

Still, whatever shape it took, it was incredibly effective. As the blast struck her, Kaolinite screamed, and when the light faded, no sign of her body remained.

The Senshi let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Ranma!" Akane said, suddenly realizing that the pig-tailed girl was near death.

She was still lying there, barely breathing, with a strange glowing crystal floating over her.

Akane reached out to take the crystal, only to have it plucked out of her hands by Sailor Neptune.

"HEY! He needs that!" Akane said angrily.

Neptune ignored her, studying the crystal. "Regrettably," she said after a moment, "It is not a talisman." She handed the Crystal back to Akane, who pushed it back into Ranma's chest, her anger subsiding.

The Senshi, both Inner and Outer, quickly left the scene.

And in the distance, Eudial frowned thoughtfully as she put down her binoculars. Kaolinite had been killed by the Sailor Senshi. That was a problem. Not an insurmountable problem, but a problem. That girl, though, something about her power seemed... familiar. Maybe the red-head was the wrong target after all...

----------------

Several hours later, Ranma and Akane walked back to the Azabu Juuban subway station. They were quiet at first. The sun was setting, and those few bright stars that could pierce the light pollution around Tokyo were just beginning to shine.

They were nearly halfway to the station when Ranma finally broke the silence. "I broke my word, Akane."

"Hmm?" Akane asked, glancing at Ranma.

"I used the yama-sen-ken. I promised Oyaji that I'd keep the technique sealed away, but I used it anyways."

Akane rolled her eyes. "You didn't have any other choice, Ranma."

"I guess. I just... do ya think promises don't count any more just because they're hard ta keep?"

"No promise is worth letting someone die."

Ranma nodded faintly.

They walked the rest of the way to the subway station in silence.

Akane's train was still five minutes out when she turned to Ranma in the middle of the crowded subway station. "You know, I never thought I'd actually see the Sailor Senshi. I always thought they were just urban legends."

Ranma laughed nervously. "Yeah, urban legends," she echoed.

"Still, I had a good time. Thanks, Ranma." Akane smiled, and they drew close, about to kiss, and then...

"RANMA! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO KISS AKANE!"

Ranma ducked, and a hail of yellow and black bandanas went flying through the space her head had just evacuated.

Akane looked disappointed. The moment was past. Again.

"Geez, Ryouga, whaddya want now?" Ranma asked, turning to face the eternally lost boy.

"When I heard you were hiding like a coward in Minato, I didn't believe it, but now I see Happosai wasn't lying. Ranma... PREPARE TO DIE!" Ryouga leaped forward to smash Ranma with his umbrella, and Ranma darted easily out of the way, leaving Ryouga to cause a small crater in the concrete floor, instead.

"Happosai," Ranma said, "Figures the old freak would tell everyone."

"Ranma, look out!" Akane shouted.

"PIG-TAILED GIRL!" Kuno yelled as he leaped to grab Ranma from behind. Taken totally by surprise, Ranma squawked in outrage as Kuno's hands clasped themselves firmly onto her breasts.

"DIE!" Ranma yelled as she punted Kuno into the stratosphere.

"OBSTACLES IS FOR KILLING!" Shampoo yelled, and Akane darted out of the way as Shampoo smashed the ground where she had just been standing.

Oh, hell. Shampoo had seen the almost-kiss? That wasn't good. That wasn't good at all. On the plus side, Akane's train had arrived.

"My darling Shampoo! Come back to me!" Mousse yelled as he joined the fray.

"GO AWAY STUPID MOUSSE!" Shampoo screamed back.

The scene degenerated into an uncontrolled brawl for several minutes, until Akane's train began to pull away from the station.

"Ranma, the train!"

Ranma looked up. "Come on, Akane," she said, taking her fiancée by the hand. "Let's get out of here!"

"Wait, Ranmaaaaaaa!!!" her words turned into a panicked yell as Ranma scooped her into her arms and bounded after the train.

The pig-tailed girl dodged and weaved her way through a hail of chains, daggers, plungers, kitchen sinks, and other assorted hidden weapons as Mousse let loose with everything he had. Ranma bounded off one of the Underground's support pillars and landed on the side of the train.

"Ranma, you coward!" Ryouga called, running after the now speeding train, twirling a bandana in his hands, "How dare you run away!" He flung the bandana after the departing pig-tailed girl, and Ranma ducked at the last moment; it tore a hole in the side of the train easily large enough for a person to fit through.

"Hey, thanks, Ryouga!" Ranma called as the Lost Boy vanished in the distance.

Akane glanced at Ranma, then at the open gash in the train, shrugged, and slipped easily inside.

"See you later, Akane!" Ranma called through the hole.

Despite herself, Akane laughed. "Better hurry, baka, or it will take forever to get back to the station."

Ranma hopped off the train and started walking along the access pathway that ran alongside the tracks. About halfway to the station, she came across the area Ryouga had apparently gotten lost – it was at a sudden turn in the passage, and a new man-sized tunnel had been carved into the wall.

She put a hand to her forehead. Ryouga really was hopeless.

By the time Ranma returned to the Azabu Juuban station, most of it was cordoned off thanks to what the police were describing as an 'insane martial artist, or possibly monster, attack.' The Nerima Wrecking Crew was gone.

Still, as she walked home, Ranma couldn't help but sigh. She'd been really hoping that things would be different, here. That maybe she could get away from everything. The engagements, the rivalries... she'd thought that Minato might be a fresh start. Things hadn't exactly turned out like she'd wanted.

But then, what did?

---------------

The stars were shining, piercing the haze of light around Tokyo. The moon was bright above Lover's Park. But there was a darkness here that neither the light of the stars nor the silver moon could banish. There. It crawled across the grass, and the light seemed less bright in its wake.

At the very spot where the Daimon had died earlier that day, a Deep One crawled, gathering information for its masters.

A Daimon had died here, yes, and also something worse than a Daimon: a witch infused with the power of Pharaoh 90. And something else... something dark.

It cut its own hand open with a slashing claw. "Ia, Shub-Niggurath," it whispered, and then spoke a brief, blasphemous prayer to the creature it had invoked. Then if flung a splatter of blood onto the ground.

The blood hissed and bubbled, flowing back together in the shape of a star. A black star.

The Deep One looked at the image, and then rose up on its hind legs, scratching its chin thoughtfully. The Master should know about this. If one of Pharaoh 90's spawn was here, things were moving much faster than they had anticipated.

It turned and headed for the nearest sewer access.

It had not even gotten halfway out of the park when a cry of "DEEP SUBMERGE!" pierced the night. A sphere of blue energy went flying out of the shadows beneath the cherry trees. As the sphere left, it briefly illuminated two human female forms.

The attack blasted off the upper right part of the creature's chest and sent it flying to the ground, quite dead.

A moment later, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune emerged from the shadows and looked down on the rapidly dissolving remains of the beast.

"A new enemy," Uranus said, thoroughly disgusted by the thing's appearance.

"It looks that way," Neptune replied. "We'd better be careful. The sea is beginning to rage..."

END CHAPTER 04


	6. Through a Glass, Darkly

The sky was clear, and the sun was warm as Akane Tendo walked to Furinkan high school with her fiancé that morning. Somehow, he'd managed to avoid getting splashed thus far today and was still male; he was currently walking along the fence overlooking the canal, with his customary smirk on his handsome face. The sunlight on the water cast shadowed ripples visible on the canal walls, and the air smelled faintly of cherry blossoms.

She was irritated with him. She couldn't remember why. Probably he had said some damn fool thing to her earlier. Anyways, he deserved a little anger for all that he'd put her through since he'd gotten here. "Just don't talk to me at school today, Ranma," Akane said.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Feh. Whatever you say, Tomboy. I wouldn't want to talk to you, anyways."

Akane stopped in her tracks and glared up at Ranma. "What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

Ranma sneered down at her. "What, ya don't speak Japanese? It means 'who would want to talk to an unsexy tomboy like you?' Ain't no mystery there. You're built like a stick, your face makes me sick. Your thighs are too thick. You can't even kick. You're dumb as a brick. You talk like a hick. Your hair's a cowlick, and you itch like a tick!"

Rage. Burning, uncontrollable rage. "RANMA NO BAKA!" Akane shrieked. Before she even realized what was happening, her mallet had been pulled out of subspace and was flying towards Ranma like a thunderbolt. There was a terrible crack and a peal of thunder; Ranma fell into the canal, and as he hit the water, he simply dissolved. No sign of him remained. The daylight failed; it became suddenly dark, and storm clouds loomed overhead, full of the promise of heaven's wrath.

"WAIT!" Akane cried, scrambling up the fence and over into the canal after her dissolved fiancé. "Ranma, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" She hit the water with a terrific splash; it was freezing cold, and there was a faint whiff of corruption about it, like an animal's body that had been left on the road for too long. She was up to her waist in cold water now, but there was no sign of Ranma. She waded about, searching for the pig-tailed boy.

Nothing.

"RANMA!" she yelled, beating her fists impotently against the surface of the water. The water splashed against her fists, and ripples flowed out from the point of impact and then were stilled.

Nothing.

That was when the bottom fell out of the canal. One moment she was standing in waist deep water, the next she was in well over her head, and the surface was rapidly fading away. She couldn't swim! In a panic, she kicked and thrashed, trying to make it to the surface, but all that she did only made her sink faster. She inhaled water, and much to her amazement, discovered she was able to breathe it without difficulty. It tasted awful, and she gagged.

Akane continued to sink. Down, down, down she went. Deeper and deeper, until it seemed as though she had sunk to the very heart of the world, and at last she reached a place of utmost darkness.

"Where am I?" she asked aloud, trying to see through the gloom.

Nothing. It was warm. She could feel the water pressing down on her from all sides. It was utterly dark.

"Hello? Ranma? Are you there?" Her voice echoed strangely in the darkness, bouncing off of unexpected and unseen obstacles.

Then a voice that was definitely not Ranma's replied to her cries, deep and terrible as the very roots of the mountains, **"I AM HERE." **

A grotesque thrill of horror shot through Akane's heart, and she shook her head in denial. "No," she insisted, "Not you. Not you. I'm looking for Ranma. Where is he?"

There was a flash of imagery. In the midst of that dark abyss, Akane beheld a brief vision of a young girl, maybe thirteen years old, with dark, shoulder length hair and purple eyes, dressed all in black.

Another flash, and the same girl was dressed as a Sailor Senshi, with a dark purple skirt and a dark red ribbon, holding a terrible glaive in her hands.

"I don't understand..." Akane said, beginning to cry. "Please, I just want to find Ranma."

The darkness shifted before her. There was a peculiar sense of what she could only describe as 'impending clarity,' and the thought of it filled her with dread.

Light flared, and she saw IT: a huge, horrific thing floating in the darkness in front of her, globular yet writhing, with vast seeking tentacles flailing about its body. A single great eye opened in the very center of the globular mass, bathing her in a malevolent red glow.

She began to scream.

"NO!!!!!!" Akane screamed at the top of her lungs as she sat up in bed, suddenly very wide awake. She was covered in sweat, and on her forehead, a black star flickered fitfully before fading away. She panted for breath. It was hot under the blankets. She threw off her covers.

Footsteps echoed in the hall, and a moment later, Kasumi came in, shutting the door behind her. She was wearing her nightgown with a robe over it. "Akane, are you all right?" she asked.

Akane looked up at her sister, and then nodded faintly. "... It was just a nightmare, Kasumi... just a bad dream."

Kasumi's expression softened, and she looked compassionately at Akane. "Do you want me to stay with you for a while?" she asked.

There was a long pause. Akane smiled gratefully. "Would you?"

Kasumi sat down next to Akane and put an arm around her. "Everything's all right now, Akane. Everything's going to be just fine."

The night was cold, and her sweat had cooled on her skin. Akane shivered, unable to get the horrifying image of the thing out of her mind. Nor was she able to forget the name that was on the tip of her tongue when she saw the girl in her dream: Hotaru Tomoe.

-----------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 5 – Through a Glass, Darkly

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

------------------

The summer heat had finally broken, ushering in the first taste of cool autumnal weather. The sky was partially cloudy, but it hadn't rained yet. A typhoon had formed to the south, and was due to hit Japan in a few days, and preparations were being made, though it was not expected to hit Tokyo.

None of that really mattered to Ranma Saotome as she danced her fighter's dance in the park near the Hikawa Shrine. Cherry trees grew all around her, and though it was nowhere near the season for them to be in bloom, they were a lovely sight nonetheless. Lovelier still was her own self, though she did not realize it. Many a passer-by stopped and stared for a few minutes before moving on as she went through her kata, her movements like poetry in motion. It was in these moments that Ranma felt most fully herself: practicing the art that had defined her life.

She went on like that for a full two hours before she finally wound the kata to a close, took a centering breath, and looked around. The leaves were only just beginning to change colour and fall from the trees. There was a sense of winding down in the air; the earth knew that the season of growth had ended. So winter follows spring. So spring follows winter, again and again through the cycle of the years. Something about the fall had always made her feel at ease. The annual dying of the world was beautiful in its own way. Death, and rebirth. Ruin and renewal. That was the way it should be.

It was with such uncharacteristically philosophical ponderings fresh in her mind that Ranma suddenly perceived a faint tremor in the Earth's ki just below her. She leaped clear just in time to avoid the explosion of dirt and rock that announced the arrival of Ryouga Hibiki.

"WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW?" he cried as he emerged from his earthy womb. His handsome features were concealed beneath a thick layer of dirt, but he wasn't bothered. He look around, for the moment, utterly bewildered.

Ranma landed easily on a low hanging tree branch, and sat there, looking down at the Lost Boy. "Hey P-Chan, I was wond'rin' when you'd show up."

Ryouga looked up, and immediately clenched his fist. "Ranma! How dare you run away from our fight! Because of you, I've been lost underground for three days!"

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Three days?" she asked. "I never asked you to follow me here, ya know." She dropped out of the tree and fell into a fighting stance.

"Don't patronize me. You have no idea of the depth of my suffering!" Ryouga drew back his fist, and prepared to charge.

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Akari yelled at you again, huh?"

Ryouga deflated. He lowered his fist and grimaced. "Shut up," he said.

"Ryouga, if you really wanna fight, that's fine, but this random attack crap is really annoying."

Ryouga smirked ever so slightly. "Ah, you're just chicken. A real martial artist is prepared to fight at any moment."

"Yeah, whatever." Ranma relaxed from her fighting stance – which either meant that now she was really ready to fight, or that she wasn't interested anymore.

Silence hung between them for a moment as Ryouga looked around. "So, this is Juuban, huh?" he asked.

"Yup."

Silence.

"Seems nice," Ryouga said.

Silence.

Ryouga glared at Ranma. "Damn you, Ranma, are you really going to force me to apologize?"

Ranma waited.

Ryouga seethed for a moment, grimaced, and then bit out, "Fine. I'm sorry. When Happosai said that you'd ran off like a coward without saying a word to anyone, I had to see it for myself. Then I saw you and Akane about to kiss, and," he trailed off. "I know I'm with Akari now, but it seeing you about to kiss Akane..." He growled angrily at the memory of it. "It's bad enough you were leading her on when you were still a man, Ranma, but this? This is unforgivable."

Ranma put up her hands. "Hey, I ain't leadin' anyone on."

"You're not even a man anymore, Ranma! Don't be a cad. Let her go!"

Ranma gave Ryouga a cold, angry look. "Can it, Ryouga. I may be a girl now, but that doesn't change the way I feel about her."

"And what is that?"

"I lo..." Ranma grimaced, and then tried again, "I, I love her. Got it?"

Ryouga grew visibly more angry, and for a moment, Ranma thought they might end up fighting after all, but then the Lost Boy's anger seemed to drain away, and he sighed dramatically. "Fine. But if you ever hurt her, so help me God, Ranma, I'll... I'll kill you where you stand!"

Ranma nodded. "Fine."

Silence descended once more.

"So..."

"Yeah," Ranma said.

"Uh..."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. This jerk still wanted something?

"How's Juuban?" Ryouga asked, somewhat awkwardly.

Understanding suddenly came to Ranma, and she smiled, amused. "You missed me," she said.

Ryouga's eyes widened, and he shook his head fervently. "I did not," he denied too quickly.

"You did. Admit it. You missed me."

Ryouga snarled and pulled back a fist to strike at his rival/friend. "Damn you, Ranma! Mock me, will you?"

"Ryouga Hibiki missed me." Ranma shook her head incredulously. "Juuban is fine, Ryouga."

Ryouga's fist trembled with unreleased tension, and then he relaxed, and lowered his hand. "Well, what's it like compared to Nerima?"

'When did we become friends?' Ranma wondered, and then dismissed the thought from her mind. She held up a finger. "Well, there's way fewer martial artists," she held up another finger, "No fiancées popping up all over the place," She held up another finger, "And school is way harder," she held up another finger, "There's hardly any one to spar with," she held up her thumb, "And there's monster attacks, sometimes."

Ryouga nodded. "Huh. Sounds boring."

Ranma shrugged.

At that moment, a section of the stone wall dividing the park from the building next to it exploded outwards, and a green skinned, female monster apparently made of traffic cones burst out of the wall and took off running through the park, a glowing crystal in hand. A moment later, the Inner Senshi ran through the breach in close pursuit.

Ryouga sweatdropped and stared incredulously at the retreating monster.

Ranma smirked. "Welcome to Juuban," she said casually.

Ryouga waited a beat, then glanced at Ranma, then back at the distant monster. "Shouldn't we help them?"

Ranma thought about it, then shrugged. "All right. Hang on a minute..."

But Ryouga had already taken off running after the monster.

"Damnit, Ryouga, wait!" Ranma called, and started running after the Lost Boy.

Two minutes later, Ryouga was nowhere to be seen, and Ranma's eye was twitching a little bit. "Stupid pig always has to run off on his own and get lost," she muttered, shaking her head. She'd been stuck with nothing but girls for company for almost two weeks now, and it was starting to fray on her nerves. She rounded a corner, and nearly collided with Usagi. "Woah!" Ranma yelped, hopping backwards to avoid the collision.

Usagi, on the other hand, was not nearly so graceful. Startled by the near miss, she promptly lost her balance and fell on her butt.

Usagi's friends all tensed when Ranma suddenly rounded the corner, but relaxed when they recognized who it was. "Oh, Ranma-san!" Ami called. They were all there – Ami, Rei, Minako, Makoto, and... huh. Ranma didn't recognize the little girl with the pink hair who was with them, but she looked like she was probably related to Usagi.

When the little girl spotted Ranma, her eyes widened, and a look of recognition flashed across her face.

"Uh, sorry 'bout that," Ranma said, reaching down to help Usagi back to her feet.

Usagi rose to her feet ungracefully, nearly falling over twice in the attempt. "Ahehehehe! It's ok. I wasn't watching where..." she blinked. "Oh, Ranma!" she said, recognizing the pig-tailed girl at last.

"You girls didn't happen to see a guy with a yellow and black bandana come running by this way, did you?" Ranma asked.

The Inner Senshi all shook their heads.

"Uh, how about a monster being chased by a bunch of Sailor Senshi?"

The Inner Senshi all looked nervous at that, but shook their heads again.

Ranma sighed. "Great. It'll be days before I see pig-boy again." She brightened up immediately. "Hey, yeah! It'll be days before I see pig-boy again!"

"Who's pig-boy?" Usagi asked, confused.

"Nobody you'd know."

The little girl whispered something to Usagi.

Usagi shrugged, looked at her friends, then looked to Ranma. "Say, Ranma, we're going for ice-cream. Want to come with us?"

Ranma's expression brightened. "Ice-cream?" she asked.

-----------------

The glow of the computer screen cast a strange light across Akane's face as she sat at the terminal in one of Nerima's public libraries. Her hands flew across the keyboard as fast as she was able to make them. Which is to say, not very; Akane had never learned how to type, being more the martial artist type. So to speak. Thus her preferred method of typing was the tried and true 'hunt and peck' technique. Still, she kept at it, and after a while, her effort began to pay off. Somewhat.

"Find anything?" Nabiki asked as she walked into the library's computer lab.

Akane looked up and shook her head. "Nothing on anyone named Hotaru Tomoe. The closest match I found was some scientist named Soichi Tomoe who almost died in a lab accident... um..." she looked at the article currently displayed on the computer screen, "About ten years ago."

"Let me see," Nabiki said, and walked up to the computer terminal to have a look. She studied the screen for a moment. "... That's weird."

"What?"

"The accident at his lab."

"What about it?" Akane asked.

"It happened on the same night Mom got sick."

Akane's spirits sank. Any mention of her mother's death always made her depressed. But this time, there was something else as well. Something more than an old wound re-exposed. Hearing Nabiki say that, she felt a flash of... something. She wasn't sure.

"How about you?" Akane asked. "Find anything?"

Nabiki gave Akane a level look. "What's so important about Hotaru Tomoe, Akane?"

She didn't know. She didn't know why she needed to find out about this person. But ever since that dream, she hadn't been able to get that name out of her head. Hotaru Tomoe. It was important, somehow. She knew it was. "I..."

"Does this have something to do with the reason you've been having nightmares every night since you got back from Juuban? Or was Ranma really just that awful?"

Akane shook her head. "It's not Ranma. Ranma was..."

"A pervert? An idiot?"

"... perfect."

Nabiki blinked. "Huh?"

Akane blushed. "She was a perfect gentleman."

Nabiki blinked again, staring at Akane. "That doesn't sound like you. You're not brainwashed again, are you?"

"What? No! Geez, Nabiki! Can't I have a good date with my fiancé without the world coming to an end?"

Nabiki gave her a look. "What is it, then?"

Akane shook her head helplessly. "... I don't know. I know it's important. I don't know why, or how, but I have to find Hotaru Tomoe. Honestly, I don't know any more than that. Now are you going to help me, or aren't you?"

Nabiki studied Akane for a few seconds, and then nodded. "OK." She produced a computer disk from her pocket and put it into the computer's floppy drive. A moment later, she brought up the file. The Tomoe family tree sprang to life in all its glory there on the screen.

"Nabiki, how did you get this?" Akane asked.

Nabiki smiled innocently. "A girl has to have a few secrets, doesn't she?"

Akane gave her sister a long-suffering look, then returned her attention to the screen. "There's Soichi," she said, pointing to a name near the base of the computer model. "Let's see..." Her expression fell. "No children. His wife, Keiko, died the same day as the lab accident..."

Nabiki gave out a low whistle. "Check it out, Akane. This guy's from a Samurai family." She pointed up near the top of the genealogy. The name 'Tomoe Gozen' was written there, with her husband listed as 'Minamoto no Yoshinaka.'

Akane looked impressed. "I don't see a Hotaru in the current generation, though," she said. "I guess it's a dead end, for now." She reached to eject the disk.

"Wait," Nabiki said. "Look here." She pointed to the entry for Keiko Tomoe. There was a small star indicating a footnote. She dragged the mouse over it and clicked on it. A smaller window popped up on which was displayed: 'Tomoe Hotaru. Greatly missed, though never had. An angel passed us in the night.'

Akane frowned thoughtfully. Hmm. It might be worth it to pay this guy a visit.

------------

Ranma smiled blissfully as she took another bite of her super double chocolate fudge brownie ice cream sundae. This, she decided, was heaven.

"How do you like it, Ranma-san?" Usagi asked.

"Thn't thhk. Thcolate thliss," Ranma said around a second spoonful if the absolutely sinfully rich ice cream. The best thing about it? ... Well, probably the state of chocolate bliss she was experiencing. But the second best thing about it was that it was free. Usagi's friends had paid for her.

Once Ranma had swallowed her helping, she smiled. "Thanks!"

"How long have you known Haruka-san and Michiru-san, Ranma-san?" Ami asked.

Ranma thought about it. "About a week. Uh, maybe two? I'm kinda new here. I met them on my first day at the new school."

"Ah. Where did you move from?"

"Nerima."

The Inner Senshi blanched at that. They'd heard rumors about that place. That was the place with all the crazy martial artists and the flying alien girls.

"Is it true what they say about that place?" Usagi asked. "That it's full of crazy martial artists who blow up buildings and alien girls who shoot people with lightning?"

Ranma thought about that, then nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

Eyes widened all around. The rumors were true?

Ranma finished off her ice-cream and looked mournfully down at the empty bowl.

"That sounds awful. You must be glad to be away from there!"

Ranma had to think about that one, too, and when she didn't immediately respond with an agreement, the other girls all grew concerned. "I guess," Ranma replied at length. "I mean, it was fun sometimes, but all the duels and fights and Chinese princes looking for brides got on my nerves after a while."

The Senshi sweatdropped. "Ano," Usagi said, "Chinese princes? Did anyone ever try to take you as a bride, Ranma-san?"

Ranma laughed out loud. "Me? I ain't the bridal type. Akane, though, seemed like she was gettin' kidnapped every other day."

The pink-haired girl – Chibi-Usa, Ranma had heard her name was. Apparently some cousin of Usagi's who had just arrived in town – seemed to recognize that name, and got a sad look in her eyes.

Ranma glanced at the girl. "You know something I don't?"

Chibi-Usa seemed to panic for a moment, got her reaction under control, and then nodded. "Lots of things!" she said cheerfully. Then she leaned in close and whispered conspiratorially, "I know plenty of things Usagi doesn't know, too."

Ranma raised a speculative eyebrow. "Really? Like what?"

Chibi-Usa leaned in closer still and whispered something into Ranma's ear.

Ranma's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?" She looked at Usagi, surprised. "I never figured her for the type."

Usagi glared at Chibi-Usa. "CHIBI U-SA... what did you tell her?"

Chibi-Usa smiled innocently. "Nothing!"

"Tell me!"

Chibi-Usa got up out of her chair. "Nothing!" she called challengingly, and laughing out loud, rushed out of the ice-cream shop, with Usagi in hot pursuit.

The Inner Senshi all looked at Ranma, their curiosity plain to see.

"What did she tell you, Ranma-san?" Rei asked.

Ranma grinned. "Nothing," she said honestly.

The inners all began to giggle, and after a moment, Ranma joined them.

When the giggles subsided, Ranma spoke up again. "She seems nice. Usagi, I mean."

Makoto nodded, but Rei looked at Ranma suspiciously.

"She's taken," Rei announced.

Ranma blinked. "Huh?" Then it occurred to her what Rei meant. She panicked. "Wait, uh, I didn't mean... I'm not like th... well, I guess I'm like that, but I didn't mean it like, uh, I mean it's not what..."

Rei's severe look broke as the Inner Senshi went into another fit of giggles, and after a moment, Ranma realized she'd been had. She laughed.

-------------------

Ranma was still smiling as she roof-hopped home afterwards. She'd decided that she liked those girls. Yeah, they were girly, and hanging out with them wasn't the same as hanging out with Hiroshi and Daisuke, but it was fun. A very different experience, but fun. She covered a few more city blocks on the roof tops, and then hopped down onto the street.

She was home.

No one was there when she walked in, but there was a note on the fridge. 'Ranma,' it read, 'went to the Tendo's with your father. Be back late. Mom.'

Huh. She guessed she would see them when they got back, then.

Ranma went up to her room and sat down on her bed in front of the mirror on the wall. She undid her pigtail, letting her hair fall loosely around her neck, and looked into the mirror, studied her reflection. It still seemed strange to see that face looking back at her; to move his hand and watch her hand move in the looking glass. It didn't feel like him. She made faces at the mirror for a few minutes, trying to see himself in her.

He wasn't there. His black hair had become her dark red hair. His lean, muscled body had become hers. His handsome face had become her beautiful face. She was shorter. He'd always been a little bit vain, and though she would never admit it, it hurt her to see how different she was from him. The eyes, though. The eyes were his eyes. Her eyes. Their eyes. That, at least, hadn't changed.

There was some of him left in there after all. She smiled hopefully. This wasn't so bad. Maybe, just maybe, she could live with being a girl.

Ranma fell back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling for a while, until at last she drifted off to sleep.

**FLASH**

Ranma stood on the exposed deck of a great star-faring ship, with the vessel's oxygen shield the only barrier between her and the void. Far below, a blue-green world hung suspended in the darkness, its alien oceans and continents shimmering against the black. Above her, the stars shone more brightly and more clearly than she had ever seen, filling the heavens in such vast array that for a moment, she wondered if she were dreaming.

No. That would have been a mercy. While she had always dreaded this day, and had often had nightmares of its coming, this way no dream. Today, she had finally awoken to the power of Saturn. She had been training for this her whole life - ever since, as an infant, she had been identified as the Senshi of Ruin's reincarnation – and she had been dreading this her whole life, hoping against hope that her power would not be needed, that she could live a normal life as a normal girl. But her hopes had been dashed. Her normal life was never going to happen now.

A tall woman with green hair stood before her, smiling sadly. She wore a senshi fuku, and she carried a staff. Who...?

Oh.

Her.

Sailor Pluto was a sight not unfamiliar to her; affection rushed through her at the sight of the woman. Here was the woman who had raised her. Who had trained her. Who had loved her like a mother.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this," Sailor Pluto said. "But if this Chaos-spawn is allowed to take root here, it will not just mean the end of this world – it will mean the end of the Silver Millennium. The infection will spread from planet to planet like a wildfire, devouring everything in its path, and in the end, everything will be taken up into that... thing."

"Y'Gol..." Ranma started to say, and as she spoke, a sense of deadly, mortal danger grew around her.

"STOP!" Pluto all but yelled, interrupting the young woman before she could complete the phrase. "Don't speak that name. Don't even think it. Speaking that name aloud will give him power over you, Lady Saturn. Do you want to become one of his Possessed?"

Ranma shuddered, horrified at the thought of joining the Violator's ranks of the damned. "I didn't think..."

"No, clearly you did not. Do you have any idea the kind of disaster that would occur if he possessed the power of Saturn? It would mean far, far worse than the end of the Silver Millennium. Think on the meaning of these words, Saturn: "When his name is spoken or read, he comes forth to be worshipped or to feed and take on the shape and soul of those he feeds upon. For those who read of evil and search for its form within their minds call forth evil, and so may the Beast return to walk among men."

"It won't happen again, Senshi Pluto," Ranma said.

Pluto nodded. "I know. And I know that you will do you duty, Lady Saturn. I'm sorry we had to awaken you... but you knew what it would mean when we did."

"I know. I just wish..."

"We all do," Pluto said, smiling sadly. "It's not fair for a sixteen year old girl to have to give up her life to save her people. We're selfish to expect that kind of sacrifice from you, and from all of your previous incarnations throughout our history."

Ranma embraced the older woman, and she suddenly realized that she was crying. "I was supposed to be married," she whispered.

"I know."

"How would it have gone?"

Pluto looked upon the girl fondly, and allowed her mind to skirt the edges of several nearby timelines. After a moment, she spoke. "The two of you would have been happy together. You would have given him three children – two girls and a boy. You would have died an old woman, and a great grandmother, surrounded by the people you loved."

She wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes were still red. "Sounds nice," she said sadly.

"I have to leave now. Good luck, Lady Saturn. All our prayers rest with you."

Ranma turned to face her destiny.

With but a thought, her Senshi uniform sprang into being around her, and the Silence Glaive was in her hands. Protected by the power of her star seed, Sailor Saturn leaped from the ship's deck, quickly leaving the oxygen shield behind, and descended upon the forsaken planet like a falling star. Fire burned around her as she entered the planet's upper atmosphere, dropping like a rock as she fell towards the capital. The lights of the city grew brighter and the details more distinct as she continued her descent. Down, further and further, until...

Her landing was like the crack of doom unto that world. She rose to her feet and leaped easily out of the fifty some foot crater her landing had made in the cobbled streets of the capital city. The distinctive architectural style of Nemesis rose all around her, all sweeping arches, and towering spires, the stone wrought like flowing water.

The Violator, the Defiler, had sensed her presence upon the world almost instantly. No sooner had she caught her bearings than His children began to pour into the streets from every building, and even out of every the very rocks of the earth. Most were horribly misshapen, their heads now nearly swallowed by their chests, with gaping maws where the palms of their hands used to be. Some of them still clung to a semblance of humanity, but their eyes were empty, and their faces frozen in expressions of primal desire. Distant screams of anguish announced the presence of human survivors who had not yet been infected, but it was only a matter of time at this point. Y'Golonac, spawn of Chaos, had long been the god of perversion and depravity. Not merely human perversion and depravity, but any that could be conceived by any sentient being, sane or not. What these abominations had been doing before she arrived, Sailor Saturn did not want to imagine. Their reek filled the air.

They charged.

"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!" she cried out, sweeping the deadly blade in a wide arc over the mob. A wave of pure destruction rolled out from her weapon, and those spawn of His that it touched were left for a moment as a kind of photo negative of themselves, and then they were simply gone.

Saturn ran on, fighting her way through the horribly mutated remnants of the planet's royal guard, fighting her way into the very palace itself. She didn't need to come here to destroy this world, but she had vowed to free Sailor Nemesis before the end.

The reek was strongest of all, here: the smell of inhuman sex mingled with corpse-rot, and Saturn nearly gagged as she stepped through the palace doors.

Focus. She had to focus. As she cut down the last of the infected Royal Guard, she achieved that focus. She forced herself not to see the victims, the mutilated bodies of both the dead and the living, the unspeakable atrocities that the Chaos-Spawn had brought down upon Nemesis.

This was the true nature of the Enemy. These were the foes the Senshi protected the Solar System against.

A painting of Princess Nemesis on the wall had been vandalized crudely, the master artist's brushstrokes now marred by the obscene hand of Y'Golonac's spawn. It was crude and stupid, almost senselessly juvenile. How could creatures capable of such horrific cruelty, such unspeakable acts... how could they also be the sort of beings to take the time to draw obscene illustrations on a painting?

But it was not only that painting. Every piece of the palace's artwork had been desecrated in some way, vandalized somehow. From the smallest statue to the grandest sculpture, it was all broken, desecrated in some way.

The double doors leading into the throne room were before her, and here she knew was the very heart of the corruption that had seized this place.

With anger burning brightly within her breast, Saturn stepped through the double doors. He was there, waiting for her.

"Hello, Nemesis," she said coldly as she strode through the doors. His spawn crowded in behind her around the entrance, but did not press further. He would not allow it. Not yet. "It's good to see you again, one last time, before the end."

Y'Golonac turned his bloated body to face her, and she was forced to repress a shudder. He had utterly corrupted Sailor Nemesis' body, forcing her once fair features into that twisted monstrosity, all the more terrible for how closely it resembled humanity. He was grotesquely fat, and upon his shoulders rested no head. His bloated, corpulent body was tapeworm-pale, and on the palms of his hands were horrific, many-jawed mouths full of terrible, drooling, seeking tongues. The reek was strongest of all, here, where He had done his work.

Sailor Saturn stood before the Great Old One, and her heart nearly failed her.

"SAILOR SATURN," the creature intoned, though it had no mouth; its voice was an horrific parody of human warmth, "I HAVE ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO BECOME ONE WITH A SENSHI. NOW, I WONDER WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO BECOME ONE WITH TWO." It reached out one of its orificed hands towards her, longingly, needfully, and he put forth his might. "BECOME ONE WITH ME, BODY AND SOUL, AND I WILL SHOW YOU SUCH PLEASURES AS YOU HAVE NEVER DARED TO DREAM."

Had she been an ordinary girl, she would have succumbed to his power, and been lost, for no mere mortal can stand before a Great Old One. But she was no ordinary girl: Sailor Saturn was the bearer of a True Star Seed, and was not accounted among the ranks of mortals. His power broke against her like waves against the cliff side. "I wasn't talking to you," she said harshly. "Nemesis, be at peace. I have come to free you with this blade." She hefted the Silence Glaive.

Y'Golonac began to laugh, and all his spawn swarmed into the room. Swarmed over her. Biting, gnawing, slashing, smothering...

She brought down the Silence Glaive. She brought it down straight through the beast that had possessed the body of Sailor Nemesis. In the instant before the planet exploded in a wave of entropic destruction, Saturn saw the bloated flesh of the beast melting away, and Sailor Nemesis' spectral form tearing free of the chains that had held her from the Afterlife. Saturn's world dissolved into white.

And the fifth planet, Nemesis, **ceased**.

**FLASH**

Ranma came back to wakefulness and sat up with a start. WHAT the **HELL **was **THAT**?

Her heart was racing, and her hair clung to her sweat-streaked face. She brushed it aside and shuddered. The house was silent. Someone had turned off the light in her room since she had dozed off, but it otherwise looked no different than it had before.

She took a number of deep breaths, trying to center herself. Trying to banish the feelings and the images of the dream. Y'Golonac's horrid stench. The sullied feeling his voice had left in her mind. The unspeakable atrocities that the beast and its spawn had committed. She shuddered a second time. That monster was lucky it was dead, because otherwise, she would have definitely killed it.

What **was** that? It felt too vivid to be a dream, and the memory wasn't fading as a dream would have. A memory? She shook her head. She had never wanted to marry a guy. Even the remembered feeling of love for the man she would have married filled her with disgust, now. She'd thought this power that she'd been given had been something offered from the outside. Was it possible it was something she had possessed all along? Who **WAS** she, anyways?

'Ranma Saotome' was the automatic response her mind supplied.

'And who is that?' she asked.

Though the clock read 3:42 AM, Ranma did not go back to sleep. She stared into the darkened mirror until dawn, wondering who on earth it was that was looking back at her.

END CHAPTER 05


	7. Silence Draws Near

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 6 – Silence Draws Near

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

------------------

In a darkened laboratory, lit only by the Malfean glow of vast green vats of churning liquid in which bubbled those shards of Pharaoh 90's power that would eventually be transformed into Daimons, a pale student of forbidden sciences sat hunched over a curiously bubbling cauldron. Huge gouts of steam rose up from it, covering the man's glasses in a thin layer of moisture. He took them off, dried them on his shirt, and then replaced them. They shone dimly in the half-light of the lab, casting their reflected illumination down onto the contents of the cauldron. A frothy, reddish fluid filled it, and the man – Soichi Tomoe – stared down into it as one hypnotized. He tossed a cinnamon stick into the bubbling liquid, and his ever present grin widened to nearly inhuman proportions. "WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he cackled, with no small amount of insanity evident in his voice.

He took up his mug from where it rested next to the cauldron, dipped it into the liquid, and lifted the mixture to his lips. "Aaaaaah," he said with great satisfaction. "Nothing beats home made hot apple cider." He looked up. "Kaolinite-kun? Come and try this, would you?"

His words faded into the dark laboratory, and there came no response to them. After a moment, he frowned. "Kaolinite-kun?" he asked.

No answer.

Oh, right. She was dead. He wasn't sure how he'd forgotten that, but there was a cure for such things. Death, that is, not for forgetfulness. Well, there might be cures for forgetfulness, but he wasn't aware of any easy ones. Soichi Tomoe took a thoughtful sip of his apple cider. Let's see... where had he left that copy of the Revelations of Glaaki? No, that wasn't it. Which book was that in? Oh yes! Kitab Al Azif. He walked over to a small bookshelf and produced the tome. Good, the reference post-its were still in place. That made it easier. He flipped to the appropriate page, went to a free bit of workspace, and began to chant:

**"Y'AI 'NG'NGAH,  
YOG-SOTHOTH  
H'EE-L'GEB  
F'AI THRODOG  
UAAAH**

**OGTHROD AI'F  
GEB'L-EE'H  
YOG-SOTHOTH  
'NGAH'NG AI'Y  
ZHRO"**

The inhuman syllables filled the laboratory, accompanied by a sense of awful, gathering power. Over and over, they rumbled through the darkened laboratory, taking on a deadly resonance not native to his voice. Eldritch power gathered around him; Yog-Sothoth had heard his petition. Yog-Sothoth, they key to where the Great Old Ones have trod. Yog-Sothoth, the Key and the Gate. The air shimmered faintly over the workspace the Professor had cleared. It was only a tiny distortion in the fabric of space/time, but it was a start. With renewed determination, the Professor chanted again:

**"Y'AI 'NG'NGAH,  
YOG-SOTHOTH  
H'EE-L'GEB  
F'AI THRODOG  
UAAAH**

**OGTHROD AI'F  
GEB'L-EE'H  
YOG-SOTHOTH  
'NGAH'NG AI'Y  
ZHRO"**

The distortion grew more intense, the sense of power more deadly, and the apple cider more tasty. Soichi was a man who knew his cider, and one thing he'd learned over the years is that the presence of eldritch energies really helped to bring out the hidden complexity of a cider's taste. The shadows in the laboratory were writhing visibly now, and the sense of sheer wrongness that permeated the place grew ever more intense. He could see his breath in the air; he turned up the Bunsen burner that was warming his cider-cauldron and took a long, relaxing sip of his drink. "Aaaaah," he said once more.

The spatial distortion grew stronger, now visibly warping the surface of the workspace he had cleared. One last time, he repeated his chant; one last time, the Eldritch energies increased in intensity, until it seemed as though the rational world were about to fall tumbling from its perch, and sheer, shrieking, mad chaos be let in to replace it.

Any moment now, Kaolinite would be restored to him. Any moment now... he could hear the echoes of her final battle through the vortex:

"...SPIRAL...HEART...ATTACK!"

He blinked. "That's a strange attack name."

A moment later, a tiny fragment of pure, unadulterated Holy Magic came searing through the vortex, taking the shape of a small red energy heart. It struck the Professor in the chest and blasted him across the room, knocking over an assortment of vials, beakers, and measuring instruments on his way between point A and point B. Overcome by the sheer holy purity of the power that had filtered through it, the portal disintegrated with a snap-hiss, taking a small part of the workbench it had formed over with it.

Soichi sat up, mug of cider still in hand (and undisturbed from the decidedly energetic crossing of the space between his current position and the workbench). He sipped his cider thoughtfully. Hmm. It seemed that whatever had killed Kaolinite was more than a match for his blasphemous invocation. A holy power that could stand against a spell that called upon the might of the Old Ones?

This could be a problem.

Still, it didn't diminish his cheerful mood. He rose to his feet and picked up the phone off of its receiver. A moment later, a person on the other end picked up.

"Eudial-kun?" he asked.

"Hai," came the voice of the leader of Witches 5.

"It seems as though we are going to have to change our approach."

"I'm listening."

Professor Tomoe grinned widely.

----------------------

The dark mirror gradually grew lighter as the predawn light filled the room, but the girl reflected there seemed no less strange now than she had hours earlier. Dawn broke bright and glorious over Tokyo, filling her room with light, and still she stared at the stranger in the mirror. No answers to her questions had come to Ranma Saotome by the time the clock struck 7:00, and she really wasn't in the mood to spar with her father this morning. Dawn was over; the sun had fully risen.

Fine. If the answers weren't going to come to her, then it was time to go out and find them. Ranma stood up, bare feet on the smooth, cold wood floor, and walked to the door.

The door opened to reveal Genma there on the other side, ready to toss his supposedly sleeping son out the window for their morning spar. Genma's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Ranma already up and waiting for him, and he reacted a moment too slowly; Ranma seized him by the arm and flung him bodily out the open window. A faint thud announced his landing in the yard a moment later.

Ranma exited the room, walked across the hallway to the washroom, locked the door, and stripped naked. "Y'golo..." she stopped. Even knowing that the creature was dead, it didn't feel right to say that name.

But that was stupid. It had only been a dream, hadn't it?

Hadn't it?

The bucket full of cold water she dumped over her own head shocked her into full wakefulness. It still felt weird, cleaning herself as a girl. It had been over a year since she'd been cursed at Jusenkyou, and almost two months since she'd become a girl permanently, but she still wasn't used to it. She didn't think she ever would be, really. But it had to be done.

Ranma upended another bucket over herself to rinse away the soap.

Damn but that water was cold.

A few minutes later (and noticeably cleaner), Ranma sank contentedly into the comforting warmth of the furo. If that dream was anything more than a dream, then whoever this 'Sailor Pluto' chick was, she might still be around. If she was... if she was, then all Ranma had to do to get her answers was to find her. Somehow.

She allowed the dream-memories to come to the surface in her mind. 'OK,' she thought. 'If I were Sailor Pluto, where would I be?'

An image flashed into her mind with startling suddenness and equally startling vividness: a huge, rune-inscribed gate rising suddenly out a hazy gray mist. Even as she saw it, she knew both the name of the place, and how to get there: this was the Gate of Time. But as for how to get there... she shook her head incredulously. "How am I s'posed ta get ta Pluto?" she wondered aloud. The other entrance was another possibility, but that was equally difficult. Ranma had no idea where the entrance to the Underworld was.

There were two other options, then. The first was that she could approach Uranus and Neptune, try to get them to listen long enough not to try to kill her, and then ask them to contact Sailor Pluto for her. Hah! Like that would ever happen. Knowing her luck, she'd either end up engaged to one or both of them, or it would just make things worse between them. No, clearly, approaching Uranus and Neptune was impossible.

That left the other option: after school, she would hunt down those other Senshi, the younger ones that is, and see if they could get her to Sailor Pluto. Since they'd taken her to the Hikawa Shrine when they'd wanted to talk to her, that was as good a place as any to start.

Ranma smiled as she rose to her feet, warm water streaming off her nude form. Now that she had a plan of action, she felt a little better.

She stepped out of the furo, dried herself off, and quickly dressed herself in a clean school uniform. She had a long day ahead of her.

---------------------

Meanwhile, in Nerima, Akane Tendo had also not been sleeping well. She'd lost track of how many nights in a row she'd been having the same dream, but it was too many. Tomoe Hotaru. Who was she? What was the monster that she always saw near the end? Why did it seem so awfully... familiar?

Akane had never really had the patience for puzzles. That had always been more Nabiki's style. But she was the one that was stuck with it. It hadn't helped that Shampoo had taken to attacking her on a regular basis. And it certainly didn't help that although she was a skilled martial artist, Shampoo was better. Three times already, she had been soundly defeated by an angry Shampoo. Three times already, she had wondered why the Amazon hadn't killed her.

Maybe Shampoo just wasn't a killer.

Akane grimaced. At the very least, the attacks had forced her to begin to take her training more seriously. She didn't want to admit it, but Ranma's arrival in Nerima had slowed her improvement as a martial artist to what was barely more than a crawl. She'd come to count on the pig-tailed boy to fight her battles for her, and her skill had suffered for it. But now, now that she was fighting her own battles again, she was showing signs of improvement, and that excited her.

And though she would never admit it, and though she loved him, she resented Ranma for what his arrival had done to her skills. If he hadn't come here... but then, if he hadn't come, she would never have fallen in love with him.

Damn him.

With a loud kiyah, Akane finished her morning kata and went into the house to get some breakfast. Today, she was going to find some answers. Today, she was going to find Tomoe Hotaru.

She just knew it.

----------------

The school day went by far, far too slowly for Ranma Saotome. She sat in the back of the classroom, bored nearly to tears waiting for the day to just be over. She knew she had promised her mother that she would pay attention, but this was torturous. Arimura-Sensei kept staring at Haruka and Michiru and getting distracted from her lesson, and the duo were growing a little uncomfortable under the close scrutiny. To make matters even more irritating, Ranma had forgotten to braid her hair into her customary pigtail this morning, instead wearing it loose, and kept getting compliments on how nice it looked compared to that 'ugly pigtail.'. At this point, she just wanted the day to be over.

The hours ticked by agonizingly slowly, and just when Ranma was sure she couldn't take any more... the clock struck 11:00 AM.

She began to grind her teeth.

When the school day finally, blessedly ended, Ranma was ready to jump for joy. She dashed down the stairs leading to the main entrance to Mugen Gakuen, passing Haruka and Michiru on the way down.

"In a hurry to get somewhere, Ranma-san?" Michiru called.

Ranma looked up. "Uh..." she quickly formulated a complex obfuscatory statement to allay any suspicions the other girl might have: "I'm, uh, going to... get ice-cream! Yeah, that's it. I'm getting ice-cream." Smooth.

Michiru looked nonplused, and exchanged glances with Haruka.

"Gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Is that a date?" Michiru asked.

Ranma flushed red, and Haruka looked annoyed. Michiru laughed.

Ranma got while the getting was good, and thus did not hear what next passed between his friends:

"Are _you_ jealous, now?" Michiru asked teasingly, pleased with the reversal of the way these things usually went.

Haruka smiled confidently. "I'm not jealous. I just can't stand the thought of you looking at anyone except for me."

"That's called jealousy, Haruka."

Haruka faked surprise. "Is that what that's called?"

-------------------

Minako grinned a cat-like grin, already planning ways to embarrass Usagi when she arrived at the study-meeting. She, Makoto, and Ami had already picked up Chibi-Usa from school, had met up with Rei, and were walking to the Hikawa shrine for their now daily study date.

She wasn't worried. Nothing would stand in the way of Aino Minako! Not monsters, not a distressing lack of a boyfriend, and certainly not the test that they all needed to take in order to get into High School.

"Masamori-kun was so cool!" Chibi-Usa gushed enthusiastically. "After he'd finished his own art project, he came and helped me with mine. Look!" She held up a strange bejeweled chalice of some sort. It looked very valuable – or would have, had it not been made out of clay.

The girls all voiced their praise of Chibi-Usa's art project – whoever this Masamori-kun was, he had talent. They'd all seen what Chibi-Usa's unassisted artistic ability was, and while she wasn't bad, she wasn't anywhere near this level of professional quality.

"Looks like a keeper to me, Chibi-Usa-chan," Minako said slyly.

Chibi-Usa blushed.

"You know what they say," Minako went on, "Haste makes money earned. Do your best, Chibi-Usa!"

The other senshi looked embarrassed, looking at Minako in askance. It was Ami who spoke up. "Ano, Minako-chan, I don't think that's quite the way the saying goes..."

Minako waved Ami off.

"You can't tell Usagi!" the little girl insisted once she had recovered from her embarrassment. "If she knew, I'd never hear the end of it!"

"If I heard what?" Usagi asked as she rushed around the corner, breathing like one who has just run a long distance. Despite having to stay late at school, she'd finally caught up with her friends.

For a moment, Chibi-Usa was mortified as she wondered exactly how much Usagi had heard. Then she calmed down. "Look what I made, Usagi!" she said, holding up the clay chalice.

Usagi may be lazy, but she wasn't stupid. She knew an evasion when she saw one. Still, she went along with it and looked at the chalice for a long moment. "Wow! That's really good!" It really was. Amazingly good, actually. She gave the pink-haired girl a slant-wise look. "Did your sweet, wonderful Masamori-kun help you make it?" she asked, putting dramatic emphasis on 'sweet' and 'wonderful,' doing a credible imitation of love-struck.

Chibi-Usa went totally red with embarrassment, and glared her future mother. "None of your business!" she yelled, and dashed on ahead of the group, running up the steps to the Hikawa shrine.

"Usagi-chan," Ami said disapprovingly as the little girl left hearing distance, "You should be nicer to Chibi-Usa-chan."

Usagi's face fell immediately. Scolding had that effect on her. She looked at Ami contritely. "I'm sorry, Ami-chan. She just..."

"Reminds you of you?" Rei asked wryly.

Usagi glared at Rei. "She does not!" she insisted more dramatically than was strictly necessary.

The others all laughed.

Chibi-Usa had stopped at the top of the stairs, and was just standing there, staring. The girls exchanged glances.

"Chibi-Usa!" Usagi called as she rushed up to her future daughter. "What's..." Sailor Saturn was standing there, eyes closed, leaning against the entrance to the shrine's residence, arms crossed, with her glaive propped up against the wall. Though it hadn't cut through it, the blade had created a visible impression in the wall it rested against. "... wrong...?"

The girls quite simply stopped and stared.

About ten seconds later, it occurred to them that they couldn't just stand there. Looks were passed back and forth as the girls nonverbally shifted the responsibility to go talk to this girl amongst them. Rei gave Usagi a look that said as clearly as if she had said it, 'You're the Princess. You talk to her.' Usagi countered with a look in Ami's direction, as if to say, 'Ami-chan's the smart one. She should talk to her!' To which Ami replied with a dubious look, followed by a questioning glance at Makoto, as if to say, 'Jupiter is closer to Saturn in the solar system. She should talk to her.' Makoto shook her head fervently, and shot a look back at Rei: 'She lives here. She should talk to the girl.' Rei looked annoyed, and immediately looked at Minako... no. That was a bad, bad idea. Thoroughly irritated, Rei stepped forward.

"Excuse me, miss, can I help you?" she asked.

Saturn didn't reply.

Rei looked uncertainly at the other girls, who nodded encouragingly. She took a few more steps towards her uninvited guest. "Miss? Can I help you?" she asked again.

No answer.

Rei frowned and crossed the courtyard. Geez this girl was rude! How dare she not even answer her when she shows up at her home uninvited! "HEY!" she yelled.

Saturn woke up with a start, knocking the Silence Glaive off its perch. It hit the ground with a loud clatter, and the blade edge sank into the ground until it was balanced only on the haft. "WOAH!" she yelped. "I'm awake! I'm..." she trailed off, looking at the girls in surprise. "Uh, hey," she said, waving casually.

Behind Rei, the girls exchanged incredulous looks.

"You're one of the Sailor Senshi, aren't you?" Rei asked.

Saturn nodded. "Yeah. Uh, don't mind me. I'm just waiting for some people."

At that moment, the sliding door to the shrine's residence slid open and Rei's grandfather stuck his head out. "Ah, Rei-chan! This is Saturn-chan. I told her she could wait here until the Sailor Senshi arrive."

The girls stared incredulously at the old priest.

"Saturn-chan, I brought some tea and crackers for you while you wait."

Sailor Saturn brightened visibly at the offer of food. "Really?"

The old priest held up the tray he was carrying, on which was a mug of hot tea and a plate of crackers.

"You're the best, ojisan!" Saturn exclaimed, taking the mug in one hand and helping herself to a handful of crackers with the other. She took a sip immediately, and then tossed a cracker into her mouth in an irritatingly casual display of accuracy and coordination.

Rei's grandfather smiled happily. "I'm just happy to have another pretty girl at the shrine!" he said, then went back inside, sliding the door shut as he left.

The girls continued to stare.

"What do we do?" Makoto whispered.

"We can't just transform in front of her!" Minako whispered back. "We don't know anything about her!"

"Actually," Ami whispered, "I got far enough ahead in my studies that I was able to do some extra research a few days ago. The Mercury Computer has extensive files on Sailor Saturn."

"What sort of person is she, then?" Minako asked.

Ami shrugged. "It didn't say."

The girls all sweatdropped. That was not helpful.

"Ano," Usagi said aloud, "If she's going to be waiting here a while, does that mean we don't have to study?" She sounded hopeful.

"Shhh!" the other girls hissed as one, and Usagi looked abashed.

"What do we do?" Rei whispered, now having walked back to join the group.

"I have an idea," Usagi whispered confidently.

A moment later, all five girls turned towards Saturn, pointed at something behind her, and exclaimed, "What on earth is that?"

Chibi-Usa looked mortified, and Saturn just looked nonplused. The girls continued to point dramatically at something behind her, so after a moment, Saturn shrugged, and turned around to look.

Nothing. Just a tree.

She turned back around, and the girls were gone, having left Chibi-Usa standing there alone. Chibi-Usa noticed this a moment later, and put her palm to her forehead.

Saturn shrugged, as if that were more or less what she expected. "What's your name, kid?" she asked, and absently popped another cracker into her mouth to munch on.

Chibi-Usa finally found her voice. She smiled brightly. "I'm Usagi Small Lady Serenity Tsukino," she said. "What's your name?"

Sailor Saturn looked amused. "All that, huh? I'm Saturn."

"Nice to meet you!"

Saturn nodded her agreement.

"What makes you think the Senshi will be coming by here?" Chibi-Usa asked.

"Mostly because the one time I ran into them before, they brought me here to talk."

Chibi-Usa sweatdropped. It was weird to hear about the Senshi acting like... like... careless teenagers. "Really? What did you want to talk to them about?"

"Ever heard of Sailor Pluto?" Saturn asked.

Chibi-Usa tried to hide her recognition of that name, but didn't do it very well. "Is she another Senshi?"

Saturn smirked, and opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment, the Inner Senshi leaped over the shrine's wall and landed gracefully in the courtyard. Well, except for Sailor Moon, who landed on her butt, but she got back up reasonably quickly, and the others only looked moderately embarrassed by her clumsiness.

"We heard you were looking for us," Sailor Jupiter said.

Saturn gave the girls an incredulous look, her face expression clearly asking what she would not voice aloud: do you really expect me to buy that? "Uh, yeah," she said. "About time, too. I've been waiting for almost an hour!"

"What can we help you with, Sailor Saturn?" Sailor Moon asked, as dignified as she was able to manage.

Chibi-Usa sat down next to where the Silence Glaive rested, half imbedded in the ground. This would probably take a while.

Saturn winced. "Just Saturn," she said. "The 'Sailor' thing sounds pretty stupid if you ask me."

Sailor Moon glared, and the other girls looked slightly less friendly after the insult. "What can we help you with, Saturn?" Sailor Moon asked again.

"I'm looking for Pluto."

Chibi-Usa looked at the Silence Glaive for a long minute, and then got the look of a person being tempted to do something they knew they shouldn't do.

"What do you want with Sailor Pluto?"

"Answers," Saturn said simply, and finished off her tea. She set the cup down next to the door.

The Inners exchanged looks. "We were hoping for some of those, too."

Chibi-Usa touched the bladed edge of the Silence Glaive with her finger. Her eyes widened, and she immediately stuck that finger in her mouth. "Ow!" she whispered.

Saturn shrugged. "Whaddya wanna know?"

"We meant from Pluto."

"Oh. Oh! Ya can't get to her, either? I know the planet's kinda hard to get to, but I thought ya might know the way into the Underworld."

Sailor Moon raised an eyebrow. "The Underworld? What does the Underworld have to do with Sailor Pluto?"

Saturn blinked. Was it possible that these Senshi knew even less than she did? That was depressing. All she had to work with herself was some funky dream memories that she'd rather not have. "Sailor Pluto? Guardian of the Underworld? Ruler of the Star of the Underworld? Her planet's got serious connections to the land of the dead, ya know. Did ya think that was just for show?"

Chibi-Usa lifted the Silence Glaive a few inches, then let it drop. The blade sank easily into the ground with a thunk. She smiled, then repeated the process. Sailor Moon's eye began to twitch.

The Senshi looked disturbed at that. This was new information. "We thought that she was..."

"Just supposed to stay at the Time Gate? She had more duties than that."

"How do you know all that?" Mars asked.

Saturn looked uncertain. "... That's one of the things I was gonna ask her."

Chibi-Usa lifted the Silence Glaive again, then let it drop back to the Earth with a thunk.

"CHIBI-USA!" Sailor Moon yelled, "STOP PLAYING WITH THE SILENCE GLAIVE!" It didn't occur to Moon to question where she'd gotten the weapon's name from.

Chibi-Usa stuck her tongue out at Sailor Moon, who rushed forward to grab the weapon away from her. Chibi-Usa wouldn't let it go, and for a moment, they engaged in a tug of war, each of them yanking on the haft of the weapon, trying to pry it out of the grip of the other.

The other Senshi stared incredulously.

"Ano, Sailor Moon," Mercury said, "It's probably not a good idea to..."

With an irritated look, Saturn held out her hand, palm upwards. The Glaive vanished, and reappeared a moment later in her outstretched hand. She gave it a twirl and then leaned it against the building again. "Please don't do that again," she said.

Both Sailor Moon and Chibi-Usa had the decency to look apologetic.

"If you can't take me to Sailor Pluto, maybe you can answer my questions yourselves," Saturn said after a moment.

"We can try," Mars replied. "But do you think we can take this somewhere a little more private? Someone could walk up here at any moment." She pointed to a more secluded area on the far side of the shrine's residence, which could not be seen by anyone coming to visit the shrine unless they actually walked back there.

Saturn gave a brief nod, scooped up her Glaive, and followed the Senshi around to indicated area. Two trees grew up tall on either side of them, bordering the wall, and the grass grew thick at their feet.

Sailor Saturn asked her questions. What she wasn't prepared for was the answers. "So you mean to tell me I'm some kind of reincarnated survivor of a magical kingdom that existed on the Moon ten thousand years ago?" she asked incredulously, once the explanation had been given.

Sailor Moon nodded enthusiastically. "Yep!" she chirped.

"That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard!"

"And you know in your heart that it's true," Sailor Moon replied.

Saturn shook her head, denying what she did, in fact, know in her heart to be true. "I've heard a lot of crap before, Princess, but this takes the cake."

Venus smiled knowingly. "For someone who doesn't believe her, you're awfully quick to call her 'Princess,' Saturn-chan." She emphasized the 'chan.'

Saturn glared. "Shut up. This is ..." she shook her head once more. "This is a little much, don't cha think? I need ta..." she trailed off, and looked at the assembled Inner Senshi for a moment.

And then a pair of little furry demons walked around the corner, yawned, stretched, and padded over towards the assembled Senshi.

Sailor Saturn's eyes went wide as she stared in horror at the twin offenses against all that was right and good in the world. Terror welled up within her breast, and it was all she could do to not scream.

"Saturn?" Moon asked, a feeling of dread growing in the pit of her stomach. "Saturn, what's wrong?"

"Sailor Moon!" Luna called excitedly. "We've found where the next attack is going to be!"

Artemis spoke up. "There's a large concentration of dark energy gathering at the con..."

"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" Saturn shrieked at the top of her lungs, and bolted for freedom. Not just any cats. TALKING cats. TALKING CATS!

The Senshi looked at Luna and Artemis, looked back to the spot Saturn had just evacuated, and didn't even bother to conceal their incredulous expressions.

"Did we miss something?" Artemis asked.

"That was Sailor Saturn!" Luna exclaimed.

Chibi-Usa blinked. She didn't remember Aunt Ranma being afraid of cats... at least, not in the future. What on Earth was that all about?

------------------------

Saturn kicked a lamp post angrily, visibly cracking it. Damn it! All these years, and she was still afraid of cats: the legacy of her father's attempt to teach her the neko-ken as a child. She hadn't learned it exactly, but the end result had been close enough that it had satisfied her father anyways. That was another idiotic thing her father had done to mess up her life. One thing among many.

She looked back at the distant Shrine, still visible at the top of the hill. She couldn't go back there now. Not when there were not just two cats there, but two **talking** cats. She'd been hoping to keep that secret from, well, everyone.

A shadow passed over her, then another, then another and another and another.

Sailor Saturn looked up in time to see the Inner Senshi roof-hopping by. They didn't spot her as they passed, and there was an extra one with them – a little girl Senshi who... Saturn thought about that for the moment. Though something about the transformation made it hard to tell which girl corresponded to which Senshi, after what she'd seen today, it was pretty obvious that the Usagi and her friends were the Inner Senshi. That left Chibi-Usa as the little girl Senshi.

Saturn frowned. They were willing to let a little girl who couldn't be older than, what, maybe eleven or twelve, fight with them?

She watched them fade into the distance for a long moment, considering what to do about it. Then she hopped up onto the roof of a nearby building, and set out to follow them at a distance.

------------------

Akane stepped off the train at the Azabu Juuban station. She knew where she needed to go. With a determined look on her face, she walked out of the train station. Briefly, the thought of going by Ranma's house occurred to her, of simply ignoring this strange urgent sense that had called her from across Tokyo to this place. This ward.

No. She couldn't ignore this. She needed to follow this wherever it lead. Allowing the strange, urgent 'pull' to lead her, Akane Tendo started walking.

-------------------

It was nearly time to go on stage, and Michiru Kaioh was ready. Clad in an elegant white dress with long white gloves, she held her violin in her left hand, preparing to go on stage with the rest of the string quartet. They were all students from Mugen Gakuen, and the private party they were performing at had given the school's music program a considerable donation for the privilege of having their top students perform for them. Two of the three other students were girls. Suzuhara-san was the viola player – a darkly pretty girl who had dedicated almost her entire life to the pursuit of musical excellence – and it was always a pleasure to perform with her. The other girl, Kotori Monou, was a delicate, flighty blonde with long hair and expressive eyes. She played the cello. The second violin player and the sole boy in the group was a sullen, serious looking boy with short hair and orange tinted glasses named Gendo Rokubungi. They were the best that Mugen Gakuen's music department had to offer; they were some of the best student performers in Japan, each considered brilliant in his or her own right. They were ready. They went out together to polite applause, each carrying their instrument, each ready to perform.

The ball room was dimly lit, and nearly two hundred people sat around their tables, some still finishing their dinners, others watching interestedly. About half of the people present looked like they were related. At least, they all had certain features in common: eyes that were slightly larger than normal, a tendency not to blink very much, narrow foreheads, and noses that were nearly flat. All of them wore suits and dresses (as appropriate). A crystal chandelier hung overhead, throwing off faint refractions of light all over the room.

Michiru smiled faintly, and that was the only outward indication of the intensity of what she felt in that moment. She always felt alive before a performance. Really, truly alive. The only other moments she could compare it to were when she transformed, and when she was with Haruka. Her heart was racing like it always did before she started playing, but it wasn't fear: she never allowed it to become fear. The energy she felt, the excitement, was carefully channeled, directed into the enhancement of her performance.

She sat down, and the other students did the same. A moment later, Rokubungi-kun struck the tuning fork, and the faint sound of the concert pitch hummed around him for a moment. Immediately, he adjusted his cello to match the pitch. Then, holding that same concert tone, he tuned the rest of his strings. The others did likewise, matching his 'A.' A minute later, they raised their instruments, and silence fell upon the room as the first soaring notes of Bach's 'Air' from Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major filled the room.

They played the song slowly and freely, the song's soaring melody and moving harmony intertwining like ocean currents. Playing lead violin, Michiru was in her element, moving her bow back and forth across the strings as she coaxed beauty from her instrument. When the piece was over, and the last resonances of the string quartet's song faded into silence, the audience sat, stunned by the loveliness that these performers had brought to them. There would be no applause until the recital was complete, but if what they had just heard was any indication, the applause, when it came, would be deafening.

They began then their main performance: Samuel Barber's String Quartet Op. 11. The first song passed without incident, but halfway through the Adagio for Strings, Michiru's eyes widened. Through sheer force of will, she forced her playing to continue unaffected as the premonition rolled through her awareness. A Daimon attack. Here. She didn't know who was being targeted, but she knew that with only her here to ensure that no Talismans were seized by the Death Busters today, things would be difficult.

The overly large eyes in the audience glittered in the light of each table's candles.

There. A red-headed woman was sitting at a table off to the left, with two briefcases at her feet. She was watching the performance with great interest. Michiru carefully concealed her reaction as she recognized the woman: Eudial.

Even as the string quartet allowed the last, final notes of Adagio for Strings to linger, and then to fade into silence, Eudial rose to her feet and began walking towards the stage, clapping loudly. All eyes went to her. Some of the observers were confused, wondering who this woman was and why she was disrupting the performance. The rest leaned forward with barely concealed anticipation.

"Very good!" she said, grinning widely. "Very, very good. Your dedication to your art is impressive..." she looked directly at Michiru. "Michiru Kaioh. Maybe impressive enough to hold a Talisman inside your pure heart crystal!" She produced a large black rifle from underneath her coat. "COME OUT, DAIMONS!"

The two briefcases she had left at her table exploded, sending the table flying, and instantly killing the other four people who had been seated there. Instantly, the crowd went into a panic. Screams rang out across the room, and about half of them bolted for the doors, recognizing this as a monster attack. The other half remained where they were, watching intently. The red smoke of the explosion faded away, revealing two rather unconventional Daimons standing in its wake. Both were recognizably female, and one had purple skin, and the other, green. The purple skinned Daimon had a huge kata blade in the place of her right arm, and was clad in the traditional clothing of a Samurai. The other was incredibly scantily clad, and was covered in black star designs, but otherwise bore no obvious sign of what she had been made from.

Michiru rose to her feet, and the rest of the string quartet did likewise. Immediately, the other three students scrambled for the exit, but not fast enough.

Eudial fired her gun, and Michiru leaped back to avoid the bolt of black energy that came shooting out of it. It struck Gendo Rokubungi in the face, and though he was blasted off his feet, and his cello clattered loudly to the floor, no pure heart crystal was produced.

Eudial laughed. "You can't evade me forever, Michiru Kaioh. But try. It might be fun!" She fired her gun again, this time striking the Suzuhara girl even as she was rushing through the door to get out of the ballroom. She collapsed, and a pure heart crystal emerged from her chest. Another blast took down Kotori, producing no heart crystal. "You appear to be out of decoys," Eudial said, grinning widely.

Michiru ran for the door even as Eudial took aim.

The audience members who remained rose to their feet, and one of them – an old man – stepped forward. "We won't allow you to summon Pharaoh 90, Death Buster!" he yelled.

Michiru and Eudial turned towards the man, staring at him in shock for a moment. Though Michiru did not know what Pharaoh 90 was, the Old Man clearly knew more than he should.

"You won't interfere, old fool," Eudial said, and shot him.

The blast of dark energy passed through him and splashed harmlessly against the far wall. The old man grinned. "That won't work on us," he said, and before either Michiru or Eudial had time to consider what he meant by 'us,' he began to change. His entire body bulged outward, and his human flesh and clothing exploded off of him in a sick, wet spray of gore. The monster beneath was one that Michiru recognized: a Deep One.

Then the rest of the remaining audience members began to change as well. A moment later, the overpowering smell of the rotting tide filled the room. Fully one hundred Deep Ones had revealed themselves.

"Don't just stand there, idiots! " Eudial said, glaring at her Daimons. "Take care of them!"

The Daimons nodded, and battle was joined. Although the Daimons were individually stronger than the Deep Ones, they were also outnumbered fifty to one. It was clear from the beginning that the best they could hope to accomplish was buy their mistress time enough to capture Michiru's heart crystal and escape, and Eudial wasted no time in sending another three blasts of darkness Michiru's way.

Michiru dove for cover, cursing herself for having stood and watched instead of escaping while her enemy was distracted by the arrival of these new monsters. No choice, then. She produced her transformation pen.

"NEPTUNE PLANET POWER! MAKE UP!" Power and light flared around her, and when it faded, she was much changed.

Eudial's eyes widened in shock. Her own student was Sailor Neptune! She laughed out loud. "YOU are Sailor Neptune? Unbelievable. No matter. Your heart crystal will still be mine!" She raised her rifle.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

Nobody paid any attention to Sailor Moon and the Inner Senshi. The all out brawl between the Deep Ones and the Daimons continued unabated. Three of the fish-frog things dove on top of the sword-wielding Daimon, receiving vicious, mortal slashes across their bellies for their trouble. They weren't dead yet, though; though mortally wounded, they held the creature down while another Deep One raised a glowing blue spear that pulsed with the cold, dark power of the very depths of the ocean, and plunged it into the Daimon's heart. The star-Daimon was having better luck, cutting a swath through the Deep Ones as it fired off black energy stars from every star-tattoo on its body. The smell of blood mixed with the rotting-tide stench of the Deep Ones.

Eudial fired another shot Neptune's way.

"DEEP SUBMERGE!" Neptune cried, sending a blast of the power of the oceans of Neptune even as the dark bolt of energy went flying towards her. The two shots struck in midair and detonated violently, knocking both Neptune and Eudial off their feet.

Eudial cursed. Her rifle had been damaged by the fall. No matter.

"What do we do, Sailor Moon?" Mars asked, staring at the chaotic scene.

Moon glanced at her Senshi. "You guys take care of the monsters. Chibi-Moon and I will stop Eudial!"

The Senshi nodded as one, and leaped into action. Soon cries of "FIRE SOUL!" and "CRESCENT BEAM!" and "SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" and "SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" joined the din of battle as magical attacks went back and forth across the room. The Senshi did not distinguish between Deep Ones and Daimons, and the chaos of the battle grew much, much worse.

Eudial grimaced. This called for some bigger, better firepower. She pulled another large gun out of subspace and leveled it at the two Moons. "You're not going to interfere this time, Sailor Moon!"

"We'll see about that. MOON SPIRAL...!"

Eudial began charging up her weapon, "FIRE...!"

"...HEART ATTACK!" Sailor Moon finished, sending a huge glowing red energy heart flying at the other woman.

"...BUSTER!" Eudial screamed, and pulled the trigger. A blast of magically supercharged plasma went roaring out the end of her weapon. For the second time that day, two attacks clashed in mid-air, and for a moment, it seemed as though Sailor Moon's attack would overcome the Fire Buster. Then the energy heart cracked, and fragmented into a thousand pieces. The blast of flame flew right through the shattered energy-heart, moving inexorably towards Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon.

Sailor Neptune's eyes widened. "Get out of the way!" she shouted, her compassion overcoming her sense of duty to her mission.

"PINK SUGAR HEART ATTACK!" Chibi-Moon cried, desperately trying to intercept the blast with her own attack.

No reaction. Not even the faintest glimmer from her weapon. She glared at it. What a time for it not to work!

At that moment, just before the ball of supercharged plasma would have wiped out Moon and Chibi-Moon, there came the sound of breaking glass. Sailor Saturn dropped into the room from the skylight, landing directly in front of the blast, and glass rained down around her. "SILENCE WALL!" she shouted. A barrier of crackling black energy snapped into place just in front of her; the plasma ball slammed into it and detonated violently, obscuring her for a moment in a storm of fire.

The flames faded, revealing Sailor Saturn standing there, unharmed. She smirked confidently. "That the best you got?"

Eudial cursed, and immediately vanished, teleporting out of the building.

Neptune stared at Saturn disbelievingly. Had Sailor Saturn really just intervened to save Sailor Moon? But... Saturn was the bringer of Silence, wasn't she? If she was awake, she was here to destroy the world. Wasn't she? She needed to think about this. She needed to talk to Haruka. Leaving the rest of the fighting to the Inner Senshi, Sailor Neptune made her escape, not even bothering to check Suzuhara's heart crystal on her way out, but only absently pushing it back into the girl's chest as she passed.

-----------------

The doors to the ball room burst open as the remaining Deep Ones made a mad dash for safety. They had accomplished their mission: the Death Busters had not retrieved the Talisman. It had cost them nearly a quarter of the strike-force's number, but they had succeeded. They fled into the night, leaving a very confused group of Senshi in their wake. The sword-Daimon had fallen about midway through the battle to the claws of Deep Ones, but the Star-Daimon had gotten away.

Saturn and the Inner Senshi stared at the remains of the ballroom in confusion. What had they just put a stop to? Who were these monsters that were fighting the Daimons? What interest did those creatures have in all this? And then there was the question that Venus voiced aloud:

"Are you scared of cats?"

Saturn ignored her. "Well, looks like there's nothing else ta do here," she said, and then turned to leave.

"Wait!" Mercury called.

Saturn blinked, looking up at the blue-skirted Senshi. "What?"

Mercury tossed her a small, pink, incredibly girly watch. "Take this communicator. It'll allow us to contact each other if we need your help in the future, and you to contact us."

Saturn looked at the watch dubiously, then pocketed it and leaped back up out of the room through the skylight, leaving the Inner Senshi alone in the destroyed ballroom.

-----------------

Akane stopped in her tracks. It was fading. She was too late. Whatever it was that had happened, she had missed it. She clenched her fist and muttered a curse. Then a shadow passed overhead, and she looked up.

A Sailor Senshi had just leaped from one side of the street to another.

"Hotaru Tomoe?" she asked aloud.

The Senshi stopped in her tracks and turned to look down at the girl who had just called out. "Huh?" she asked, clearly surprised. Was that recognition in the Senshi's eyes?

"Hotaru Tomoe?" she asked again. It was the same girl as the one she had seen. Well... almost. The costume was the same, even down to the many-spiked crystalline broach. But the girl was different. She was older, her hair was dark red instead of black, and her eyes were blue, not purple.

Akane frowned.

"Who?" the Senshi asked. She hopped down to the street. "You ok, Akane?" That look of concern in her eyes seemed familiar.

Akane stared at the Senshi of Ruin. The way she'd just said her name... but she didn't know any redheads that looked like this. Unless... "_Ranma_?" she asked.

The Senshi's reaction was all the confirmation that she needed.

END CHAPTER 06


	8. A Destiny of Stars, Part I

_One... if two people are in love,  
Two... both of them to hell will go,  
Three... even if they kill everyone,  
Four... a signpost to hell they will find,  
Four... a signpost to hell they will find,  
Five... a rain of blood follows where they go,  
Six... purified and changed,  
Tears have all dried up._

_**- Youma: Curse of the Undead – Counting Song**_

------------------

The moon shone brightly through the open window in Ranma's bedroom, filling the room with a gentle silver light. Strange shadows flickered on the walls, and the curtains stirred in the breeze. Saturn no longer, Ranma Saotome stood in the middle of the room, facing a seated Akane Tendo. Akane was staring at her, and her expression was odd. Ranma couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"Explain this to me, Ranma," Akane said. Her tone was completely flat, giving no indication of her feelings on the matter.

Ranma looked down. "... I..."

**SHIFT**

"... She saved Sailor Moon," Michiru said, shaking her head. "It doesn't make any sense." They were in Haruka's apartment, sitting by the side of the indoor pool. The moonlight shone brightly through the window, and the lights in the pool filled the room with a flowing kind of watery light.

"Does it change anything?" Haruka asked.

Michiru met her lover's gaze. "She's still Saturn. I know the dream-message as well as you."

"The Silence is coming. The ruin of the world is approaching. Only the true Messiah can use the Holy Grail and save the world." Haruka looked away. "The three Talismans hidden in pure crystal hearts will summon the Grail."

Michiru nodded. "Three lives in exchange for the salvation of mankind. That's not such a bad sacrifice, is it?" Her eyes looked haunted as she spoke.

Haruka couldn't meet Michiru's gaze. She stared down at her hands and said nothing for a long moment.

The gentle, watery light rippled across the walls, and the faint smell of chlorine waifted up from the pool.

Several blocks away, Akane glared at Ranma. "What? You thought it might be fun to run around at night dressed in a seifuku with those sailor floozies? You're unbelievable! Is this what you've been spending all your time doing?"

"What! No! Akane, it ain't like that at all!"

Akane wasn't listening. "Do they even know what sort of pervert is running around with them? You didn't tell them you were really a guy, did you? I bet they'd be horrified if they knew what kind of a perverted freak you really are!"

Ranma flinched. Akane had always known how to hurt her, ever since the first day they'd met. "Would you listen to me!?"

**SHIFT**

Outside, the night was clear, and the moon shone brightly down upon the street. The sounds of the city were a distant thing at this hour, limited only to the occasional passing car.

Five women stepped out of the shadows and looked up at the building. This was where the target lived. Ordinarily, they would never work together like this, but things had changed, and their tactics had needed to change, too. There was too much risk of outside interference to leave this to only one operative.

The women checked their respective weapons, nodded to each other, and headed inside.

Akane rose to her feet and stepped forward challengingly, her battle aura manifesting itself visibly. "Listen to you! I can't even trust you! You damned..."

Ranma cut her off. "Damnit, Akane, shut up and listen to me!" she yelled, and in her anger, her eyes flashed purple for a split second, and the sigil of Saturn appeared on her forehead.

Akane fell silent, staring at her fiancée.

"The only reason I'm like this is because of you. When I was fighting that stupid Phoenix brat, I had a choice: I could either become this... this ... this freak, or I could let you die. The thing is, no matter how much you annoy me, I couldn't just let you die. I love you! Letting you die woulda been like... like dying myself. So yeah, I chose to become this way. I became Saturn, and I gave up my manhood to save the only thing that was more important to me than that: you. Now I've got this power, and those girls need my help. There's people out there trying to steal people's souls or something – I don't understand exactly, but they're killing people. It's a martial artist's duty to defend the weak, so yeah, I'll wear a stupid girly seifuku if it's the right thing ta do. If that makes me a pervert, or a freak, then I'm a pervert, and a freak!"

Michiru sank onto her back, with her legs bent at the knee and still drifting in the pool. It seemed as though their conversation had ended, so she took a seashell from where it rested next to her and put it to her ear to hear the ocean in it. It calmed her as it always did, and for a moment, all she could hear was the roar of the waves, and all she could feel was the ocean spray. The scent of seawater rose over her, and she smiled.

Haruka spoke softly, "It's not fair, going into your own world like that."

Michiru opened her eyes. Haruka had drawn near to her again, and was smiling sadly. She raised an eyebrow.

"Don't leave me alone out here," Haruka said.

Michiru's expression softened, and she took Haruka's hand in hers, and rested her head against the other girl's shoulder.

**SHIFT**

Opening the door was a simple matter for the Witches 5. A simple injection of nanites into the lock was all it took. The lock unbolted with a loud click. Checking their weapons for a final time, the five women headed into the building. It was time to end this, once and for all.

The anger drained out of Akane's expression, and she looked at Ranma in wonder. "Ranma," she whispered. She could see it now. He could see it in her gaze. What he'd given up for her. What he'd sacrificed so that she would live. He had sacrificed 'himself.'

For a moment, an overwhelming feeling of heartsickness rose up in Ranma's breast. For a moment, she felt the heart-stopping terror of who 'he' had been and what 'she' had become, and though she knew it would never be so, she saw 'herself' as an old woman, frail and gray, living out the winter of her life in this form that he should never have possessed to begin with. Mercifully, the moment passed, and the horror subsided. Tears burned in Ranma's eyes, but she refused to let them fall. She looked at her fiancée, and she waited for her response.

Akane stepped forward and pulled Ranma into a sudden embrace. She wrapped her arms around the red-head and burst into tears, murmuring over and over, "I'm sorry."

Ranma stood there, shocked by the sudden physical contact. Then she embraced Akane in turn, and smiled gently. "Hey, don't be like that. I'd do it again in a second, ya know."

Sniffling, Akane let go of Ranma and stepped back. "Can I see her? Your other self?"

Ranma nodded, and with a brief look of concentration, allowed the energy of the change to wash over her body. The first thing that appeared was a crystal broach at her neck; everything else rippled out from that, flowing out into the now familiar uniform of Sailor Saturn. The whole transformation took less than a second.

Akane's expression clouded over as she looked at Ranma's transformed body. She felt strange. Like she was walking underwater. Everything became muted and hazy except for the Sailor Senshi who stood before her. "I..."

Need. Intense physical **need** for this person, this pervert, this girl. It nearly overwhelmed the Tendo daughter. She wanted Ranma. She wanted to be Ranma. She was never supposed to have been Akane Tendo: she was **supposed** to **be** Ranma. Akane didn't know how she knew it, but in that moment, she knew that it was the truest thing she had ever known.

Michiru's eyes widened as a sudden premonition came over her. Instantly, she was on her feet, transformation pen in hand. "Haruka. Transform now!" she hissed.

"NEPTUNE PLANET POWER! MAKE UP!"

"URANUS PLANET POWER! MAKE UP!"

Shimmering light surrounded them each for a few moments as the magic of the Silver Millennium coursed through them, stripping the two women of the carefully layered disguise that their human rebirth had placed upon them, peeling back the layers until their bodies matched their true souls' Eidolons. Filled with power, Uranus and Neptune turned towards the door just in time to see it burst open, and a cloud of thick gas fill the room, sweeping over the pool like a living thing.

The two warriors of the Silver Millennium did not blanch; in their true forms, they were more than a match for a mere tranquilizer gas.

The first of the Witches through the door was a young woman with short blonde hair and gold eyes wielding a peculiar staff.

She never had a chance.

Two blasts of planetary magic took her full in the face the moment she stepped into the pool area, and she went flying back through the door and into the far wall with a sickening crack.

"MIMETE!" a female voice cried out. "Damn you Sailor Senshi!"

Battle was joined.

Akane seized Ranma and kissed her passionately; Ranma stared at her for a moment, shocked by her actions.

"A... Akane, what...?"

"Shut up, Ranma," Akane replied.

Ranma shook her head, stepping back. "Wait, Akane, this is... I mean, this? Now?"

Akane nodded, her eyes shining. "I love you, you pervert. I need you. Now."

Ranma dropped the Silence Glaive – it landed point side sideways – and allowed Akane to pull her down onto the bed. Her thoughts were racing. She needed... she needed to... "Akane..." The twin horses of love and lust went trampling through Ranma's brain, and rational thought departed from her. "I love you too," she whispered.

Then the clothes came off, and there was no more time for conversation.

-------------

Ten minutes had passed since the arrival of the Death Busters, and the apartment was smashed. The walls were blacked with soot, and furniture lay broken scattered across the main room. Most of the main room was obscured by the flames that now burned there out of control, the legacy of the Fire Buster's discharge. Mimete's body was still there. Or what was left of it. The fire had not been kind to her remains. Smoke poured freely through the doorway that led to the pool area, where Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune lay insensate, barely breathing, their hearts barely beating. In the distance, the noise of approaching sirens could faintly be heard.

It was in the midst of this chaotic scene that a woman suddenly appeared, fading into existence near the edge of the pool. With supermodel looks, dusky skin, long green hair and garnet eyes, she was certainly striking. She was dressed in a strange kind of seifuku, and she held a key-shaped staff in her left hand.

Sailor Pluto looked down at the fallen bodies of Uranus and Neptune, and sighed.

-------------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 7 – A Destiny of Stars, Part I

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit. This chapter contains small amounts of dialogue from Episode 110 of Sailor Moon (Uranus tachi no shi? Talisman shutsugen). I didn't write that, either.

-------------------

Morning dawned bright and glorious over Tokyo; the smog haze was lifted by the breeze, and the air was so clear it nearly sparkled. The sounds of the city drifted through Azabu Juuban; on the horizon, storm clouds were gathering. The typhoon was approaching, and in spite of the words of every weather forecaster, it was headed directly for the capital. Even now, at this early hour, preparations were being made for the coming storm.

At the Hikawa Shrine, Rei and the other girls were busily putting up storm shutters and taking down anything that might tear free in the high winds that were to come. Mamoru was on hand, lending his assistance.

"Do we really have to do this so early?" Usagi asked. She was bleary eyed, and still wore her pajamas – she and the other girls had slept over at the shrine last night.

Rei rolled her eyes. "When should we be making preparations, odango atama? When the storm is already here?"

"Unfortunately," a new voice cut in, "It appears that this is what we must do. The storm is upon us, and we have nothing in place against it."

The girls and Mamoru turned in surprise. There, standing at the entrance to the Hikawa Shrine, was Sailor Pluto.

"Pu!" Chibi-Usa cried.

Pluto smiled faintly. "Hello again, Small Lady."

"Sailor Pluto!" Usagi whispered.

The daughter of Chronos turned and swept her gaze across those assembled in the courtyard, nodded faintly, and spoke. "Come. We have much to discuss and little... time in which to discuss it." She put a strange inflection on the word 'time.' She walked across the courtyard and into the shrine's residence.

The others exchanged glances, nodded, and followed.

----------------

The morning light filtered through the open window. Ranma had been awake for nearly an hour now. She lay in bed naked beneath the blankets, with Akane's arms wrapped around her. She was watching the other girl sleep, a strange, contented smile on her face.

She could get used to this.

Last night had been incredible. Ranma had never imagined that such sensation was possible. It had been clumsy and awkward at first, but later, after the initial fumblings... She shook her head. The warm afterglow was only now beginning to fade away. Here, with Akane sleeping at her side, she felt... happy.

The door opened, and Ranma looked up. Her father was there at the door, in panda form, come to wake her up for their morning practice. The old panda looked at the state of the room, with Akane's clothes strewn about, a discarded senshi fuku on the ground, and the strange Glaive lying close at hand. His gaze fell upon the occupants of the bed, and then his eyes met Ranma's. There was no recognition there; Ranma had not detransformed last night, and the magic protecting her identity was still in place. Who was this strange red-head in bed with Akane?

Ranma sat up, letting the blanket covering her fall to her waist. "Jeez, Pop," she said, "Get out and close the door already."

Now there was recognition. The Panda's eyes widened. He held up a sign: 'Boy!? Uh... I'll just be leaving.' He backed out of the room and slid the door shut.

Her sleep disturbed by the sound of voices, Akane stirred and opened her eyes. "Ranma?" she asked sleepily.

Ranma looked down at her lover and smiled. "'Morning, Akane."

Akane held up a hand in front of her eyes and stared at it for a moment. "I'm still me," she whispered. She sounded disappointed.

Huh? "Uh, yeah. Were ya expecting somethin' different?"

Akane shook her head and sank back into the blankets. "... I'm not sure."

A faint beeping filled the room. Ranma blinked and looked around for the source. After a moment, she realized where it was coming from: she reached into subspace and produced the ridiculously girly, garish pink watch that the Senshi had given her the other day.

"What's that?" Akane asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Ranma shrugged. "Somethin' the Senshi gave me. I think it's a like a radio or somethin'." She flipped it open with her thumb, revealing a small video screen on which Usagi's face appeared. Right. Great job of concealing the secret identity, there.

"Saturn?" Usagi asked.

"Yeah?"

Akane peered over Ranma's shoulder at the device. "That's... pretty weird, Ranma," she said.

"Ranma?" Usagi repeated, sounding very shocked.

Ranma glared, though she really wasn't that upset. "Nice going, Akane." She looked back at the video screen. "Whaddya want, Usagi?"

Usagi seemed to recover from her surprise at having learned Saturn's identity. "We're having an emergency meeting at the shrine. Pluto is here. Something's happened to Uranus and Neptune."

Ranma thought about it for a moment. Pluto was there? ... For a moment, the dream-memory of Pluto's face seemed real enough to reach out and touch. She looked down at Akane, who was looking up at her questioningly. Yes. Yes, she would go. If only to see if her dream-memory really was a memory, or just a dream. "I'll be right there," she said, shut the communicator, and stuck it back into subspace. Ranma glanced down at Akane. "I gotta go."

"I'm coming too," Akane said.

Ranma shook her head. "Wait here, Akane. This doesn't involve you."

Akane glared at Ranma and tossed off the blankets before rising to her feet. "If it involves you, it involves me. I'm going."

She really was gorgeous.

Ranma sighed. "Fine, but if ya get kidnapped, I'm gonna let Ryouga rescue ya this time."

Akane didn't dignify that with a response. She grabbed her panties and stepped into them, pulling them up onto her. Then she went fishing for her bra.

Ranma got up, glanced down at the discarded senshi fuku, shrugged, and started getting dressed in her normal clothing.

---------------

As Ranma and Akane walked up the steps leading to the Hikawa Shrine, silence hung heavily between them. Akane had tried talking to Ranma when they'd first set out, but Ranma had been lost in thought, and was still.

Sailor Pluto. A warmth of remembered affection rose up in Ranma at the thought of that woman. Was she really going to meet with her previous incarnation's mother? Would it be like she remembered? Were they even really memories at all? She could remember... Ever since that first dream, memories had been surfacing at odd times. Some were good memories, bringing with them warmth and joy, some were bad, bringing with them sadness and pain. And some, like the memory of gettin' all hot and bothered from making out with some dude in the Saturn palace (whose name she outright refused to remember), made her feel violently ill. She took that as an encouraging sign. If she could feel ill at what had come to her as a 'good memory,' it meant that she wasn't becoming someone else. Something about that guy seemed vaguely familiar, though. Something about those fangs of his. Eh. It wasn't important, and she certainly wasn't interested in pursuing THAT relationship ever, ever again. Whatever her preferences may have been in that life, she was only interested in girls in this one.

Ranma glanced at Akane and smirked. "C'mon, tomboy," she said, "I'll race you to the top!" She bolted off towards the top of the stairs.

Akane blinked, smiled, and then took off after Ranma.

When they reached the top of the stairs they found Usagi waiting on the steps of the shrine residence. "Saturn!" she called, waving. Then she noticed Akane. "Ano, Akane-san? What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you supposed to be protecting your secret identity or somethin'?" Ranma asked.

Usagi flushed red, simultaneously embarrassed and horrified.

"You forgot, didn't you."

Usagi nodded, thoroughly ashamed.

Ranma laughed and shook her head, then glanced at Akane, who also had a look of amusement on her face. "Akane's here because she's nosy."

"Hey!" Akane said. She glanced at Usagi. "Just because this dummy has to run around in a seifuku fighting evil doesn't mean I'm going to let him do it alone."

Usagi raised an eyebrow at that. Akane had called Ranma 'him' again. "I guess that's OK. But everyone's waiting inside. Come on." She opened the door and stood beside it.

Ranma and Akane exchanged glances before walking across the courtyard and through the door. Usagi followed them in a moment later.

The other girls were all there, sitting around a small table which housed various snacks and treats. Makoto, Minako, Ami, Rei, Chibi-Usa, Sailor Pluto, Mamoru... wait, Mamoru wasn't a girl. Well, he was kinda girly with that sensitive guy attitude, but he wasn't technically female. ... Wait a minute, Sailor Pluto? Ranma's eyes flashed back over to the green-haired Senshi who sat in the corner, looking impassive. The woman's eyes widened ever so slightly as Ranma entered the room, but otherwise maintained her cool. It wasn't surprise. It was something else. Something Ranma couldn't quite place.

Ranma's heart leapt. Pluto looked exactly like she remembered. The same features. The same green hair. The same dusky skin. The same garnet coloured eyes. The same uniform. "Pluto," she whispered. After a moment, it occurred to Ranma that everyone was staring at her. No. That wasn't right. They were staring next to her. She glanced at Akane. Oh! "Hey. Uh, I uh, brought Akane." Well, everyone except Chibi-Usa was staring, that is. Chibi-Usa was only smiling fondly, like a person reliving a treasured memory.

"Does she know?" Rei asked. Her expression was guarded, but then, so were the expressions of everyone else in the room short of Chibi-Usa.

"That this pervert is running around at night in a seifuku fighting evil?" Akane asked wryly. "I heard."

Ranma looked irritated for a moment. "If I'm a pervert, what does that make you?" she asked.

Akane blushed, and said nothing.

Minako looked from Ranma, to Akane and back, and then nodded to herself. Something was definitely different between Ranma and Akane since the last time she'd seen them. The physical intimacy between them was much stronger. Even the way they sat together was different, casual touches much more common, and not withdrawn, not apologized for. Where before their body language had been the body language of friends, now it seemed more like... She grinned widely. "How was it?" she asked.

Ranma blinked. "Huh?"

Minako's grin did not diminish. "Last night. How was it?"

Mamoru and Ami looked embarrassed. The other girls gave Minako surprised looks.

"Minako-chan!" Usagi whispered fiercely as she settled down next to Mamoru.

Sailor Pluto rose to her feet, calm and imperious. "Now that everyone is here," she said, "I'll begin."

Everyone ignored her.

"Do you really think their relationship has become a physical one?" Ami asked, blushing at the thought of it.

Ranma and Akane stared. It was like watching a train wreck in progress. They couldn't look away.

"Minako-chan is perverted!" Rei said. "It's not right for two girls to do that sort of thing together!"

Usagi held up Rei's collection of lesbian manga. "Um, Rei-chan, you have these." She said.

Rei went apoplectic. "USAGI!" she yelled, snatching the offending stack of manga out of Usagi's hands and quickly stuffing it into a nearby closet. "Those are not for you!"

The Inners (except for Rei) started giggling, and Pluto's eye developed a minor, barely noticeable twitch.

After a moment, Ranma realized that Minako was still staring at her expectantly. "Look," she said at last, "Whatever we do together ain't none of your business, so drop it, OK?"

Akane nodded her agreement, surprised by such rampant maturity from her fiancé.

Disappointment flashed across Minako's face.

In the next room, Luna and Artemis, who were hiding so as not to be seen by Saturn, shook their heads incredulously.

"Maybe now she'll sympathize with us," Artemis said.

Luna nodded long-sufferingly.

"Enough," Pluto announced, and the severity of her tone cut through the conversation like a knife. "All of you will listen. Now."

Immediately she was bombarded by a hail of questions from those assembled. "Where have you been?" "Why did you wait so long to contact us?" "Why haven't you been helping against the Daimons?" "Is that really your natural hair colour?"

Pluto shot a cold look at Minako, who had asked that last question. Minako wilted, and sank back into the cushion she was sitting on. "Where did you expect me to be?" Pluto asked, raising a delicate eyebrow. "You know my duty."

The others fell silent at that. Ranma and Akane only sat and watched for the moment.

"I cannot leave the Gate of Time unguarded, Sailor Moon," Pluto said, looking directly at Usagi. "It would be disastrous for the Gate to fall into the hands of an enemy, even for a moment."

Usagi nodded. Then something occurred to her. "Ano... if you can't leave the Gate of Time unguarded, who's guarding it now?"

The faintest ghost of a smile graced Pluto's lips. "Mirai," she replied.

The others looked confused. "The future is guarding the Gate of Time?" Ami asked.

Pluto didn't reply to that, but gestured. A moment later, the bodies of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune appeared floating in midair, and gently drifted down to the floor.

Ranma blinked. Those two... what the hell had happened to them? She'd never sensed anything quite like it - their Ki signature was practically nonexistent. It was like they were... halted, somewhere before the point of death. "What the heck?" she asked.

The reactions of the others were more dramatic. Usagi gave out a frightened shriek at the sight of the two Senshi appearing out of thin air, and the others all surged to their feet before they recognized who it was that had appeared. Ami moved to check their vitals a moment later.

"I don't hear a heartbeat," Ami said.

"I have used the power of the Underworld to suspend them between life and death," Sailor Pluto announced. "It was the only way to preserve their lives after the loss of their Pure Heart Crystals." She looked across those assembled. "Uranus and Neptune have failed. The Death Busters have found the first two Talismans – within these two."

"WHAT!?" came the shout from five voices simultaneously.

Akane looked to Ranma. "What's a Talisman?" she whispered.

Ranma shrugged.

"The two Talismans must be recovered," Pluto went on. "We cannot allow the Holy Grail to fall into the hands of evil; it would mean the end of the world, and the dawning of a new age of darkness."

"What about Uranus and Neptune?" Usagi asked.

Pluto met Usagi's gaze. "What about them?" she echoed.

"We can't just leave them like this! Can't we put the Talismans back inside them?"

Makoto spoke up then. "Why would we want to do that?" she asked. Her expression was hard.

Usagi looked at Makoto, horrified. "Mako-chan!"

Rei cut in. "She has a point, Usagi. These two have done nothing but put innocent people in danger ever since they first arrived. They kept talking about how some sacrifices are necessary, and how they were willing to let innocent people die if it would save the world. Why should we help them? Why shouldn't we just take the Talismans and save the world? They're not innocent people, Usagi." She glanced at Ranma. "Besides. They tried to kill Saturn. What does that say about them?"

Usagi rose to her feet. "We can't do that!" she insisted. "Even if the Talismans are the only way to summon the Holy Grail, we can't do it at the expense of people's lives. Although those two would probably be willing to be sacrificed, it's still wrong! Even if they're not innocent people, Uranus and Neptune are good people. They were only fighting for what they thought was right! They may have thought that some sacrifices are necessary, but I can't accept that. I won't start down that road. You can't get to a good end through bad means. But if we all get together, we can find another way." She looked directly at Pluto. "Nobody has to die."

A murmur went through those assembled, and the four Inner Senshi knew in that moment that they would gladly die to protect their Princess.

Ranma shifted in her seat. She had no love for Uranus and Neptune, and while she couldn't deny the rightness of what Usagi was saying... she shook her head. No. She wouldn't let such gloomy thoughts intrude here and now.

Pluto smiled, her cool appearance having finally been cracked by Usagi's impassioned words. "It is good to see you, my Queen," she said warmly. "I'm glad. It will be harder to save them than it would be to simply reclaim the Talismans, but it is possible." She held up her hand, and the jewel on the top of her staff floated into the air in front of her. "This is the garnet orb: the third Talisman. If I can get close enough to the other two Talismans, I can use its power to restore them to their rightful owners. It will not be easy to get that close, however."

"Do we even know where these two objects are being held?" Akane asked, speaking up at last.

Everyone (save Ranma) looked at her, surprised that she would speak.

"What? It's a reasonable question."

Pluto produced a set of photographs and placed it on the table in front of the group. "The Death Busters are headquartered in this building: the home of Soichi Tomoe. I haven't been able to ascertain if he is directly involved or not, but we should consider him a potential threat at least." Each of the pictures was of a large mansion on the other side of Azabu Juuban. Every entrance and exit was covered, every door, every window, and as much of the interior as could be discerned from the outside. Pluto had done a thorough job. "We must act quickly. The Death Busters are not the only threat; the Walker in the Storm is approaching."

"The Walker in the Storm?" Ranma asked. Something about that title tickled her memory.

Pluto nodded. "An ancient enemy of humanity. He has been summoned by... other forces here that oppose the completion of the Death Buster's plans."

"Why aren't you getting their help?" Akane asked.

Rei looked uncomfortable for a moment. "... You're talking about those monsters that have been fighting the Daimons, aren't you?" she asked.

"I am," Pluto replied. "The Esoteric Order of Dagon is active in Tokyo, and they will also have to be dealt with. They are no friends of the Death Busters, but they are no friends of humanity, either."

"The Esoteric Order of Dagon?" Ami asked. Her thoughts were racing. She knew that Dagon was a deity worshipped by the Philistines in Biblical times... was this organization some sort of descendent of that religion?

Mamoru spoke up then. "They're Chaos Spawn, aren't they." It wasn't a question. At the questioning glances the others shot his way, he continued. "When the Silver Millennium fell, Earth was left undefended for ten thousand years. Many enemies have taken root here during our long absence."

Sailor Pluto nodded, and when she looked at Mamoru, there was a little more respect in her eyes than there had been. "Endymion-sama is correct." She looked thoughtful. "I had thought the Esoteric Order of Dagon was no friend to Ithaqua, either, but it seems that the enemy of their enemy is their friend." She redirected her attention to those assembled. "They must be dealt with, in time. But if we are to retrieve the Talismans and save Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, we must act now. Today. If we wait for the storm, the Talismans will pass to Ithaqua, and we will not see them again."

The others nodded, and they began planning their attack on the Death Buster's headquarters. Even as Mamoru and the girls settled down for their planning, Pluto glanced at Ranma. "Saturn," she said. "Come with me a moment."

Ranma rose to her feet, and then glanced down at Akane. "Uh, be right back?"

"You better," Akane said. It was clear she was feeling a little like a fifth wheel in this situation. Still, she looked determined.

Ranma went out into the courtyard with Pluto.

"You shouldn't be awake," Pluto said as soon as they were out of earshot of the residence.

So much for a happy reunion with her dream-mother. Ranma blinked. "Huh?"

"There is not yet any threat on the scale that would awaken your power," Pluto said, her voice carefully controlled. "Why are you awake, Sailor Saturn? Do you intend to destroy this world?"

"What?" Ranma asked. "No! I ain't got any plans to destroy the world. Why does everyone keep askin' me that?" She looked at Pluto. "Besides. You're the Guardian of Time, ain'tcha? You should know."

Pluto looked very faintly irritated for a moment, and Ranma had a moment of satisfaction. She'd gotten under the woman's skin. It was a small, petty thing, but there it was. "News of my foreknowledge is greatly exaggerated," she said. If it was humor, it was deadpan humor.

Ranma smiled in spite of herself, allowing the dream-memories to come to the surface. "I remember," she said. Sailor Pluto was the Time Gate's guardian only; she was there to prevent its use, not to abuse its power herself. While her connection to the Gate did grant her some insight into destiny, and some sense of major events that were to come, the rumors of omniscience that had followed her even in the Silver Millennium had never been anything but rumors. "Look," Ranma said. "I ain't gonna blow up the world. I got someone here I need ta protect. I became Sailor Saturn to save her from some overgrown firebird, and I'm not gonna do anythin' that would put her life in danger."

Pluto nodded. "I see." She looked closely at Ranma. "You've changed," she said after a moment. "You're not how I expected you to be."

Pot to kettle: you are black. "I don't even remember most of that life. I'm Ranma Saotome now, and I ain't changin' how I am just because I was different in some past life."

"Fair enough," Pluto replied. She turned and headed back inside. "Come. We have a rescue to plan."

After a moment, Ranma followed her. She didn't really care about Uranus and Neptune – heck, she didn't even really like Uranus and Neptune, and had planned to give them quite a beating if they'd kept on attacking her like that, but seeing them lying helpless, stuck between life and death... she wouldn't wish that fate on her worst enemy.

Ranma nodded determinedly, her decision made.

They had a rescue to plan.

END CHAPTER 07


	9. A Destiny of Stars, Part II

The great city of Tokyo had shut down in anticipation of the coming storm, and the people had by and large moved into the all-purpose disaster shelters that the government had built after the third time monsters had attacked the city en masse. The sun shone fitfully above the approaching clouds, her last bright gleaming slowly fading as a wall of solid gray spread across the sky, and with the clouds came the rain. One moment the streets were dry, the next they were being buffeted by a torrential downpour; the great roaring rains of God. Or of a god, in any case. The wind began to howl. And in the midst of the gathering power of the storm, the Senshi acted.

Their plan was simple: They were reasonably certain that Professor Tomoe was not at home, so his house would be empty except for any defenses he may have in place. They would enter the Tomoe home through an upstairs window accessible from the roof – one of two entrances not protected by alarm spells. Of all of them, Sailor Moon would need assistance to get up there. That would be Ranma's job. Sailor Pluto would remain at the Shrine to keep Uranus and Neptune suspended between the point of life and death. The Tomoe residence was shielded against teleportation – otherwise, Pluto could simply teleport in, take the Talismans, and then teleport out. Once inside the house, the Senshi would split into pairs and search for the Talismans and for the source of the teleportation shield. Mercury with Mars, Venus with Jupiter, Moon with Tuxedo Kamen, and Saturn by herself. Once they'd found the source of the shield and the Talismans, they would destroy the shield, seize the Talismans, and they'd all teleport back to the shrine.

It sounded simple enough, but as she ran through the pouring rain, her clothing plastered wetly against her skin, Ranma couldn't help but wonder if it really was a very good plan. Setsuna's input had been minimal: she'd really done little more than present her intelligence, and then let the girls come up with whatever plan they thought would be best. Some aspects of it Ranma was sure were bad ideas, but she had been voted down. When Ranma had looked to Setsuna for support, the woman had only smiled. Surely the older Senshi must have known that they could have come up with a better plan.

So why hadn't she said anything?

They were very near the Tomoe house now. Akane had not been pleased with the thought of having to remain at the Shrine with Setsuna and Chibi-Usa, and had reacted... badly. Still, they'd convinced her to remain behind in the end. Ranma hoped.

Here they were. It was raining almost too hard to see clearly now, and the wind was picking up to dangerous levels. It was going to be a pain to get out of here. Ranma glanced at the others, waited for Sailor Moon's nod, and then seized Sailor Moon around the waist and leaped over the surrounding fence and landed lightly on the roof. The others quickly followed.

Strange.

The rain was less severe, here, and the wind was barely more than a breeze. Once you got past the fence around the Tomoe residence... there was some kind of barrier around the house, keeping the worst of the wind and the rain from touching the place. Outside, a Typhoon was coming on hard. Here, it was little more than a steady drizzle. Now that she was looking for it, Ranma could actually see the excess rain flowing down the sides of the barrier, but it was a hazy thing – like her eyes didn't want to focus on it. It was very easy to just let her vision slip past the barrier and its visible effects.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and glanced at the other Senshi, plus Tuxedo Kamen.

It was time to get to work.

Not far away, unbeknownst to Ranma and the Senshi, Akane Tendo trudged fiercely through the storm. Stay behind at the Shrine? Stay behind, when the others were going to the Tomoe residence, just because she wasn't a Senshi?

Like hell.

That old tugging feeling was there again, and combined with her injured pride, pulled the Tendo girl onwards. Though the wind howled and the rain seemed enough to wash the whole city away, Akane Tendo would not be denied.

Not this time.

----------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 8 – A Destiny of Stars, Part II

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit. Some descriptive text is paraphrased from the short story, '_From Beyond_,' by H.P. Lovecraft. I didn't write that.

Warning: This chapter may be a bit disturbing. We're dealing with Horrors Which Man Was Not Meant To Know, here, and punches are not pulled.

----------------

One by one, they slid through the window into the bedroom. It was warm, and the light was soft and purple. Makoto, Minako, Ami, Ranma, Usagi, and finally Mamoru. As they came out of the rain, the magic inherent to their transformations went to work at drying them off, and within a few seconds, the room was slightly more damp, and the group had become dry.

The room was half empty, but the half that wasn't bare was some kind of shrine – the kind a bereaved parent might build to their lost child. The closet stood open, and a dozen sets of baby clothes were neatly folded on the wooden shelves therein, most of them purples and pinks. A crib stood in the corner, covered in dust and old, never used blankets. On the wall above the crib was a painting, or at least the frame of one, but what was displayed thereupon was anything but ordinary: clearly magical, it showed the living image of a lovely young woman with dark hair and purple eyes. She was wearing the uniform of a student at Mugen Gakuen, and she greeted these intruders into her domain with a kind of sad curiosity.

Ranma stared. So did everyone else, for that matter. But for Ranma, it was more than just amazement at the strange painting. She found the image of that girl to be... compelling. Looking at it filled her with the strangest sense of half-remembered heartache. She might have stood there staring at the girl's image for hours had Usagi not broken the spell by speaking aloud.

"Who are you?" Usagi asked with wonder.

The girl in the painting met Usagi's gaze and smiled faintly. "I'm the image of the master's daughter," she replied. "Her name was Hotaru: I am what she would have looked like now if she had lived."

Usagi gasped aloud, and the others exchanged guarded looks. "A girl died here?" she asked sadly.

Hotaru's image nodded. "It was a great inconvenience to master Germatoid."

"Why?" Tuxedo Kamen asked sharply.

Hotaru turned her gaze to Tuxedo Kamen. "Hotaru was Sailor Saturn, of course. What better host could there be for the true Messiah of Silence than the Senshi of Ruin?"

All eyes went to Ranma, and the words of the girl in the painting struck her like a physical blow. She shuddered, and staggered backwards. "Why should we believe you?" she managed after a moment, her mind racing.

The image, which had only looked at them before, now suddenly seemed to perceive them. "You!" she hissed, staring directly at Ranma. The painting began to glow intensely. "Master Germatoid said this day would come; it's what I was created for, but I never expected..." Hotaru laughed out loud. "Come closer, Saturn. I want to see what kind of girl you were reborn as."

"Saturn," Rei warned, producing an ofuda, "I don't like this. Back away from the painting." She raised the ofuda as if to strike the painting with it.

But Ranma wasn't listening. As if in a trance, she moved forward, and after a moment, she was glowing with the same light as the painting. She reached out to touch its surface.

"Saturn, no!" Usagi cried, and reached out to stop her friend from touching the image on the wall, knowing it was too late.

The image of Hotaru reached out of the painting and grasped Ranma by the hand. The glow intensified, and soon, Ranma was disappearing into the frame, her eyes blank. Even as she sank into the image, she blinked suddenly. Her eyes widened. "Oh, shit...!" she managed, and then...

CRACK! Tuxedo Kamen's rose struck the painting violently, embedding itself stem first in the canvas. Cracks of white light spread out from the point of impact, and the whole image shattered with a small concussive wave and a terrific flare of white light. Ranma was knocked to the floor.

"Tuxedo Kamen-Sama!" Usagi said admiringly. A moment later, she realized what had happened to Ranma, and dashed to the red-head's side. "Saturn-chan!" she exclaimed. "Can you move? Are you ok?"

A Daimon egg slid out of the empty frame of the painting, fell to the floor with a small, hollow thunk, and promptly split in half. For a moment, a tiny dark spirit was visible floating above it, but it quickly disintegrated.

Ranma sat up and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Aw, man that stings," she said, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. "I'm ok. What the heck was that?"

Rei offered Ranma a hand, and Ranma took it without even thinking about it, quickly rising to her feet. She staggered once, leaned heavily against the Senshi of Mars for a moment, and then appeared to recover.

"The spirit in the painting was a Daimon," Rei said. "Tuxedo Kamen probably saved your life, Saturn."

Ranma turned to face the masked man, and for a moment, neither of their expressions betrayed anything. Then Ranma nodded her thanks, and Mamoru acknowledged it with a returning nod.

Rei grew irritated. "Aren't you going to thank him for saving you?" she asked.

"She did," Mamoru said, and turned his attention back to Usagi.

Flustered, Rei looked at Mamoru, then at Ranma, clearly having missed something there.

Mercury's computer beeped suddenly, and she looked up with a smile. "I've found the talismans," she said. "According to these readings, they're in the basement, two floors below us."

Minako grinned brightly. "Right!" she said. "We'll have the talismans and be home in time for breakfast!" The others didn't bother to correct her, but that may have been because they didn't have time. Even as she spoke, Minako strode boldly over to the door, turned the handle, and swung it open wide.

At first glance, it was only a hallway outside the room. Just an ordinary hallway, and clearly nothing to be worried about. But appearances can often be deceiving. Minako stepped into the hallway and moved round the corner.

The others moved out into the hallway behind her, only to find that she was nowhere to be seen.

"Venus?" Usagi asked.

Silence.

"Minako-chan?" she asked again in a small voice.

---------------

The typhoon hit Tokyo full force, and as it did, the Wind Walker put forth his might. Waves of eldritch power roiled forth across the city as he acted, freezing the storm even as he sustained it by his power. Rain turned to snow, and the hurricane force winds blasted against Tokyo with all the icy fury of the coldest reaches of the frozen north. The bay froze solid as he emerged from it, planting his icy footsteps upon the docks, striding forcefully through the streets and leaving devastation in his wake. Ithaqua had come to Tokyo, called well beyond his accustomed hunting grounds by an ancient rite of summoning that even he could not deny; the Esoteric Order of Dagon had done its work well.

Even as the God of the Cold White Silence strode ashore, at the Hikawa Shrine, Setsuna shivered in spite of the magical warmth her Senshi fuku provided her, slid the last storm-shutter into place, and sat next to Chibi-Usa. They had taken shelter in the fire-reading room, and against the cold chill of winter, the Sacred Fire blazed brightly, filling the wooden hall with an uncomfortable warmth.

"Puu, is all of this really going to be all right?" Chibi-Usa asked. She too had transformed into her Senshi fuku for the additional protection it provided against the cold. She'd wanted to take shelter in the main house, but Setsuna had vetoed that idea immediately.

Setsuna smiled fondly. "I can't say," she replied.

They sat there in silence, listening to the wind howl for a few moments.

"You don't know, or you can't say?" Chibi-Usa asked.

Setsuna didn't answer.

Chibi-Usa waited a few moments more, then sighed heavily. Sadness rested heavily upon her youthful shoulders. "Does it really have to happen the way I remember?" she asked quietly. "The stories mama told me about the days that led up to..." she trailed off. "I feel bad for Aunt Ranma. To have her tell stories about it is one thing, but to watch her live through it... What if I went and told them all about what's coming? What if I tried to change things?"

"You didn't," Setsuna replied, shaking her head, "It will happen the way it happens, Small Lady. From your point of view, all this has already happened, and it can't be changed. For Usagi and the others, it's happening now, and they're free to change how it ends with their actions."

"And from your point of view?"

Once again, Setsuna didn't answer. Outside, the wind howled, and the storm raged.

-------------------

"Minako-chan!" Usagi cried aloud, and the others cringed at her volume.

"Sailor Moon, we're trying to sneak in here, not tell everyone in a three block radius what we're doing!" Rei scolded.

"But Minako-chan couldn't have just vanished!" Usagi said, now whispering.

Makoto nodded her agreement. "She has to be around here somewhere," she said, striding down the passageway. The others followed in single file. Something about the architecture of this house twisted the eye. The angles seemed wrong, though none of them could have said why. The shadows were longer, full of greater menace, and there was a subtle sense of what is best described as 'twisting.' They rounded a corner, and Makoto suddenly fell... forward, down the hall, as if it were a sheer drop. With a surprised yelp, she vanished into the gloom.

"Mako-chan!" Usagi cried out in alarm, reaching for her friend. Ranma pulled Usagi back at the last second, barely saving her from Sailor Jupiter's fate. "What happened?" Usagi asked, her long blonde ponytails swishing back and forth as she looked at those of her friends who remained. "Where is she?"

Ami manifested her visor and the Mercury computer and began to scan the area even as Rei, Ranma, and Mamoru looked around suspiciously. Mamoru stood protectively over Usagi, and she shrank back against his side.

"There's an intense spatial distortion..." Ami began.

Rei took a step backwards.

"Mars, no!" Ami yelled out in warning.

It was too late. Sailor Mars' eyes widened as she fell through an angle between the floor and the hallway wall that outright defied three dimensional geometry. It was painful to see her fall through it. Stomach-wrenching. The existence of such a space was simply wrong on a primordial level, as if she hadn't simply fallen through the floor, but between the floor, somehow.

"Mercury, what's happening?" Usagi asked desperately, clutching tightly to Mamoru's arm.

Ami shook her head. "This doesn't make any sense. The computer is trying to compute four dimensions of space and two of time. It's..." She looked horrified. "This whole house is a kind of tesseract. But it's more than that. According to these readings, time here has both length and width!"

"I don't understand," Usagi said, growing more and more distressed.

Ranma looked intently from one side of the hallway to the other. "They're still here, Usagi-san. I can sense their ki. They just ain't here."

Mamoru nodded thoughtfully and did his best to explain the concept to Usagi. She didn't understand it, but she at least found the sound of his voice to be comforting, so there was that. "...I've studied objects that exist in four dimensional space, but I never thought I'd actually end up inside of one..." He noticed Usagi's zoned out look and smiled gently. "We'll find them, Usako."

"There," Ami said, pointing slightly to Usagi's right. "There's the place Rei fell through."

"But it's on the other side of the hall!" Usagi said, looking frustratedly from the spot Rei vanished to the place Ami had just indicated.

"Only from our point of view," Mamoru said.

Ranma shook her head. "I don't know nothin' about tesseracts or anythin' like that, but I do know that we gotta rescue the others, and then get out of here and find those damn talismans. Do we got a way to do that, or don't we?"

Mercury nodded, a plan springing to life within her thoughts. "I can guide Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen to safe ground. In the meantime, if you can find your way to the heart of the four dimensional space, you should be able to use your power to collapse it into a traditional three dimensional space."

"What about the others?"

"You'll have to find them in the other-dimensional space. They should be able to help you to collapse it."

"What's the catch?" Ranma asked. "There's always a catch."

Mercury looked hesitant. "If you aren't careful, collapsing the four dimensional space could kill us all."

"Why's that?"

"Imagine that there are six different versions of this house, and each version of the house can be accessed from each other version of the house. That's not really what the four dimensional space is, but it does give you a basic idea of what it's like. In this context, what you need to do is essentially to layer them back on top of each other exactly. If you aren't careful, you could end up with them..." She thought about it for a moment. "Stacked wrong. Where instead of each house's wall existing in the same place, they could crisscross the corridor, or they could materialize with us inside them."

"Right. That sounds bad."

Ami nodded. "It is. I'd go with you, but we're running out of time, and I'm the only one who can guide Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen safely out of this spatial distortion."

Ranma looked from Ami, to Mamoru, and then to Usagi. She held open her hand, palm upwards, and in a flash, the Silence Glaive appeared in her hands. Her clothing burst apart into a stream of purple ribbons for just a moment before reforming into her Senshi Fuku. "Ready," she said.

"Good luck, Saturn-chan," Usagi said, looking Ranma directly in the eyes. "Bring everyone back safe. I believe in you."

Ranma nodded.

Ami studied her computer for a moment. "OK," she said. "Step forward now to enter the other-dimensional space."

Ranma stepped forward, and vanished into thin air.

---------------

Of all the things she could have done, volunteering to cast herself into the heart of a four dimensional construct was probably not the brightest thing that Ranma Saotome could have chosen. At least, not if she valued her own survival first and foremost. There's the thing, though: she didn't. Venus, Mars, and Jupiter were in danger. What's more, Usagi and Mamoru were in danger. Hell, for that matter, Uranus and Neptune were in danger. If they didn't recover their talismans, they would both die, and for all that they had been nothing but a pain in the butt to her, and had attacked her on multiple occasions, she couldn't just let them die. She'd never be able to live with herself. So it was with no small degree of determination to succeed that Ranma stepped into the other-dimensional access point.

From Ranma's perspective, Usagi, Mamoru, Ami, and all the walls, ceilings and floors of the house simply vanished. One moment she was standing in the dark hallway, the next moment she was standing in a vast, incredible temple of long-dead gods, with innumerable black stone columns reaching up from a floor of damp slabs up into an aerial ocean of light that appeared to serve as a roof for the structure.

Ranma stared. What the hell was this? It was... beautiful. She walked along the columns for several minutes, staring in wonder, the heels of her nearly knee-length boots clicking loudly on the damp stone slabs that served the temple as a floor. "Mars! Venus! Jupiter! Are ya here?" she called finally. Her voice echoed through the place strangely, and the echoes waxed and waned for some time through the strange resonance of the place. As the last echoes faded, a sense of watchfulness settled over the building, and she shivered.

She knew where she wasn't wanted. Thinking she could see an exit to the temple in the distance, Ranma headed for a distant light. She walked for several minutes, and it didn't seem to get any closer. Then, after about ten minutes of walking, the light seemed to race up to her all at once; it was an exit, but even as she got close enough to step through, the light of it failed. For a moment, she had a vision of utter, absolute solitude in infinite, sightless, soundless space.

She concentrated briefly, flaring her aura, and began to glow with a faint blue light.

That was a mistake. Ranma knew it even as she flared her aura. The light of her ki showed shapes in the empty space that were beyond words. Things writhed there. Things which defied description. Her aura winked out, and she shuddered.

It was about then that she heard the sound, and even as she did, she realized that it had been present all along. There. Almost infinitely faint yet vibrant and unmistakably musical, yet its impact held such wildness that it felt like brushing her fingers across sandpaper. It was beautiful. It was beautiful and it was terrible, and there was no sign of Rei, or Minako, or Makoto.

There, lost in the other-dimensional space, Ranma Saotome began to feel truly alone.

--------------

Through snow and wind and fury, she walked, ice frozen against her cheek instead of rain. Her dark hair was frost-rimmed now, speckled with snow and ice, making Akane Tendo look prematurely old. The black star no longer flickered, but was writ upon her forehead, a visible sign of her condition for all that had eyes to see.

Booming footfalls echoed in the distance.

She shivered. This was bad. This was really, really bad. She was losing feeling in her extremities. Akane didn't know much about winter survival, but she was pretty sure that was really, really bad.

Even as the thought occurred to her, she felt warmer. A darkness flowed out from her, and the ice against her flesh melted. She felt warm.

The footfalls grew louder, and the ground beneath her began to vibrate in time to them.

That was definitely odd. Akane looked up; a barrier field had formed around her in a sphere shape, wrought from a murky, shadowy kind of light; an effect like small swirling patches of black oil floating on the surface of a pond. Wind and snow parted around her, leaving her untouched, and blasting all the more furiously on the space around her.

"Did I... do that?" she asked. Even as she voiced her question, she knew that the answer was yes. She had willed it, and it had happened. She smiled, feeling much more confident now. Confident in the rightness of her course of action, and confident in her ability to handle herself in this new supernatural arena that Ranma had become apart of.

She came to a stop in front of the Tomoe house. She was here. It was time. She took in her surroundings one last time... and her eyes fell upon the great, dread Ithaqua, striding slowly, purposefully towards the Tomoe house, moving its slow thighs while all about it reeled snow, and wind, and ice. The city was freezing before it, and the awful gaze of the great creature was upon her.

Raw, primal horror rose up within Akane's mind, and it nearly unmade her. She ran in panic for the door, and gave no thought to the fact that it opened for her even as she approached it. She dashed inside, slammed the door, sank to her knees, and began to cry.

"Where are you Ranma?" she whispered piteously.

--------------

Through half-seen realms of nightmare and wonder, Ranma walked in silence, ever searching for the other Senshi she knew were trapped here. Distantly, she heard a noise like a door slamming shut, but it echoed strangely off of opalescent towers in worlds of smoke and half-truths. And then, over the next rise, beyond the field of human ears and the great tree wrought from Truth itself, whose voice was ever spilling into the ears that grew up all around it, there came a sound that was startling in its conventionality: the shout of a teenaged girl.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"

Brandishing the Silence Glaive, Ranma – Sailor Saturn – leaped up to the top of the rise just in time to see the residual flash of Sailor Mars's attack. She was locked in combat with a beast whose shape defied easy description. It was a terrible, almost indescribable thing, easily larger than a bus. '_A shapeless congerie of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light all over the massive front_' _(1) _bearing down on the Senshi of Mars with all the eldritch might at its disposal. A small section of its mass was singed near the front, but even as Ranma watched, the burn mark was fading away.

"Hey Mars!" Saturn called, trying to sound casual. "Need a hand with that?"

Mars looked up, and the light of hope entered into her eyes. "Sailor Saturn!" she said. "Where did you come from?"

"Mercury sent me through to give you guys a hand. We're still in the house, she said. We're just in... uh... other-dim... other... look, I ain't the one best qualified to explain it, but we're still in the house, and we have ta get back to Mercury, Moon, and, uh ... Tux...boy."

In spite of the gravity of her situation, and in spite of her relief at no longer being alone, Sailor Mars glared at Saturn. "That's Tuxedo Kamen-sama to you!"

"Whatever. Let's get this party started." Ranma raised the Silence Glaive. "Silence Glaive...!" she began, and deadly purple energy began to collect around the blade.

"Wait!" Mars called, dodging another of the creature's attacks. "You can't! If we're still in the house, you might blow the whole thing up!"

Saturn lowered the Silence Glaive and ground her teeth in frustration. What good were these powers if she couldn't use them?

Two cruel laughs rang out from behind the Shoggoth, then, and two young women appeared, floating in mid-air. In all aspects aside from their colouring, they were identical. They were beautiful and cold, wearing identical black skirts with identical tops, save that one's top was highlighted in blue, and the other with red. One had blue hair, the other, red. One had blue eyes, the other, red. They bore identical staves, save that one bore a blue star, the other, red.

"That's right, Sailor Saturn," the one in blue said. The one in red continued, and their voices were the same. "You are helpless here. If you use your powers, you can kill us, but you will also kill your friends."

Saturn's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

The two young women smiled identical smiles. "We are Cyprine and Ptilol, Sailor Saturn. Helpless as you are, unless you wish to kill your friends, we are the last thing you are ever going to see."

"BURNING MANDALA!" Mars shouted, sending a volley of fiery rings into the hide of the Shoggoth just before she had to leap clear as it flung itself at her once more. "Damn," she cursed, "This thing is tough. Saturn, hurry up and deal with them so you can help me!"

Cyprine blasted Saturn with a bolt of blue energy.

"Silence Wall!" Saturn shouted, and the bolt splashed harmlessly against the barrier. Unfortunately, the time it had taken to raise the barrier had allowed Ptilol to get behind her and send a blast of red energy straight into her back. The impact blasted her forward several feet across the grass, leaving bleeding furrows in the ground beneath it. The blood that seeped up out of the ground quickly turned black and began to bubble as tiny life-forms were spawned from it. Many limbed, flopping, tentacled things, some with eyes, others without, and none the same shape as any other. The creatures dissolved back into the black blood after a few seconds.

Saturn dropped the silence glaive and smirked confidently. "You're right," she said. "I can't beat you with my Senshi powers."

Ptilol teleported next to Cyprine, and the two looked down at the Senshi of Ruin imperiously. "Are you giving up, then?" Cyprine asked contemptuously.

"Yeah right. I can't beat you with my Senshi powers. Lucky for me, I got more than that to work with."

The twins' confidence wavered for a split second, and Saturn sprang into action. She was on them in a flash, fighting in mid-air at blinding speed, and though they were able to teleport to safety, it was clear that such an attack had surprised them.

"What? You think you can beat us with your bare hands?" Ptilol asked incredulously.

"Mouko Takabisha!" Saturn cried, sending out an intense blast of pure blue ki.

Ptilol twirled her red staff, deflecting the attack easily. It flew off to the right and exploded against the bubbling hide of the Shoggoth, which reeled back in pain, giving Sailor Mars the seconds she needed to recover from its latest assault and take the offensive again.

"MARS FIRE SNAKE!" she shouted, sending forth a great blast of fire which in mid-flight took the shape of a great snake and quickly encircled the Shoggoth, surrounding it with heat and light on all sides.

"Die!" Cyprine yelled, and sent a volley of blue energy bolts at Sailor Saturn, who seemed to vanish, only to reappear a moment later when she collided to the energy shield that Ptilol was generating around her partner.

"Damnit," Saturn hissed as she fell to the ground.

Ptilol and Cyprine both gestured with their staves, sending out an intense volley of red and blue energy bolts at the spot where Saturn had struck the ground. There was a small explosion. A moment later, Saturn came leaping out of the smoke, singed but otherwise unharmed.

'No choice,' Saturn thought. 'If I don't end this now, that thing is gonna eat Sailor Mars. Her mind quickly ran down her list of tactical options, until... "Mars, get down!" She gathered her power into her hands. "Kijin Raishu Dan!" she yelled, projecting a vacuum blade directly at the Shoggoth.

Mars dropped to the ground, and the vacuum blade passed right through the space her head had occupied and sliced deeply into the mutating hide of the beast.

The Shoggoth roared in fury, mouths forming and shrieking all over its body before dissolving back into its mass. "Tekeli-li!" each mouth shrieked, again and again and again and all at once and at intervals, until the sound of it was nearly deafening. It shifted its great bulk and flung itself at Saturn, who easily evaded its clumsy attack. Cyprine and Ptilol, on the other hand, were caught by surprise. Cyprine barely had time to get out of the way, but Ptilol did not. The Shoggoth's great bulk slammed into her, and flowed around her, its flesh parting like water at first, and then closing in, engulfing her body within itself.

Ptilol barely had time to scream before she was torn asunder within it and then absorbed by the angry beast. Her agonized face briefly formed on the monster's surface as it gorged itself upon her outraged individuality – and then she was simply gone.

"You bitch!" Cyprine shrieked at Saturn, true horror filling her mind as the connection she had with her other self was snuffed out as if it had never been. "You BITCH!" She began to glow with a terrible blue light. "Death is too good for you! I'll send you straight into Azathoth's maw for this!" Space began to distort wildly around her, and she screamed in fury mixed with grief and horror.

Saturn stared incredulously at the Shoggoth, not quite able to come to terms with what, exactly, had just happened. "What the hell?" she asked. She looked up at Cyprine. "Wait, I didn't..."

A burning bow and arrow appeared in Sailor Mars' hand, and she took aim. "MARS FLAME SNIPER!" she cried out, and released the arrow.

The space behind Cyprine unfolded like origami, and in that moment, for only that moment, reality came apart at the seams. Raw, nuclear chaos invaded the ordered universe. The portal was opened, and beyond it, outside the ordered universe, Saturn and Mars looked upon madness itself. There, from the inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond space and time, the music that Ranma had heard earlier sprang forth undiluted, the mad cacophony of warbled, mindless, blasphemous sound that some have called the music of the spheres. There came the pounding of horrible drums, and the mad piping of blasphemous flutes, and there, for just a moment, they glimpsed the daemon-sultan Azathoth himself, greatest of the Chaos spawn, gnawing hungrily in chaos amid pounding and piping and the hellish dancing of the Other Gods, blind, voiceless, tenebrous, and mindless, whose soul and messenger is Nyarlathotep.

It was only a moment, but it was a moment of infinite width. It was all coming apart. Horror and madness battered against the fortresses of the Senshi's minds, and the magic that was inherent in their Star Seeds warred against it, preserving them, shielding them. The balance surged one way, and then the other, and it seemed as though the power of their star seeds had begun to fail...

And then Mars's arrow of flame struck Cyprine in the heart. She screamed voicelessly as she lost control of the portal, and it spun shut on top of her with a snap-hiss, leaving in its wake no sign that she had ever been.

Saturn and Mars glanced at the sated Shoggoth and shuddered, the power of their Star Seeds repelling the last of the supernatural madness that had threatened to claim them both.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Saturn said.

Mars nodded mutely.

-----------------

An click, faint but very clear, like a seatbelt being buckled or a door being locked, brought Akane out of her horrified reverie. She looked up just in time to avoid being punched in the face by a vaguely female creature which appeared to be made of straight-jackets.

"You've got to be kidding," she said, ducking under its follow up.

"The master is not fond of intruders," the Daimon said, glaring at Akane intensely.

"I'm not leaving here without Ranma," Akane said confidently, dropping into a fighting stance.

The Daimon's gaze fell upon the black star on her forehead, and it stopped. It looked at her very carefully, and its eyes widened. "You!"

"Me?" Akane asked.

"Why are you here? You shouldn't be fighting us. You should be helping us!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not about to help Ranma's enemies. Kiyaa!" Akane lashed out at the creature with a powerful punch; the Daimon breezed right past her fist, seized her by the wrist with one hand and planted its other hand on her collarbone, fingers digging into her flesh. It lifted her easily and slammed her, back first, into the floor. The force of the impact knocked the wind out of her, and she gasped for breath.

"If you won't listen to reason," the Daimon said, "I guess I'll just have to use other means." It gestured, and cloth flowed out from its form, wrapping itself around Akane's body until she was bound tightly in a straight-jacket.

Akane glared furiously at the Daimon and struggled against her bonds in vain, her rage only increased by her helplessness. "I'll kill you!" she shouted.

The Daimon smiled cruelly. "Not today, I think." It put both of its hands on her shoulders, and they both sank into the floor.

END CHAPTER 08

Author's Notes:

1 - H. P. Lovecraft, _At The Mountains of Madness_


	10. A Destiny of Stars, Part III

Sailor Venus rubbed her eyes once, twice, three times to try to make the hallucination go away. It didn't. She pinched herself, and it hurt, so she pinched herself again on the other arm. That hurt too. OK. That wasn't working. Or maybe she wasn't hallucinating? You were supposed to pinch yourself to make hallucinations go away, weren't you? Still, the verdant plain she was standing in the midst of had to be an illusion of some sort. Ditto for Earth, hanging up there in the air like it was a moon of whatever planet she was standing on.

"That must be it," Venus said aloud, "I've gone to Gaea!" She spun in a circle, and her long, blonde hair twirled around behind her as she did so. Grassy plain, grassy plain with forest in the distance, grassy plain with Sailor Jupiter standing on a nearby rise, grassy plain with mountains in the distance. Nobody nearby for miles. "Where's Vahn when you need him?" Wait a minute. She'd missed something. Something important. Her mind quickly ran over the information it had just absorbed. She looked ahead. Grassy plain, check. She looked east. Grassy plain with forest in the distance, check. She looked south. Grassy plain with Sailor Jupiter standing on a... "Mako-chan!" she called, waving excitedly. "You made it here too?"

Jupiter blinked as if coming out of a daze. "M... Minako? Where..." she looked around and seemed to get her bearings. "Where are we?"

"Not in Houston anymore." Venus said, smiling brightly.

Jupiter winced. "That's 'Kansas,' Minako-chan."

"Whatever."

Jupiter looked up at the full Earth in the sky and shook her head incredulously. "How are we supposed to get back there? We can't do a Sailor Teleport without the rest of the team, can we?"

Venus shrugged. "Won't know unless we try, will we?"

Jupiter glanced at Venus, looked up at Earth, and then nodded. "Right." She walked over to stand directly in front of Sailor Venus. "Ready?"

Sailor Venus closed her eyes, concentrating on the power that coursed beneath her skin: the power she had always felt there, even as a child, long before her awakening, but had not known how to draw upon. She embraced it, and it embraced her in turn. A brilliant golden light sprang up around her. She opened her eyes, and saw that an equally brilliant green light surrounded Jupiter. "Venus Star Power!" she shouted. She was echoed a moment later by a shout of, "Jupiter Star Power!" Then, together they yelled, "Sailor Teleport!" Venus shut her eyes, not wanting to be dazzled by what was to come. Their auras flared, and their energy surged together into a brilliant flash of light, and then...

Venus cracked an eye open. Damn. They were still here. "So much for that idea," she grumbled.

Jupiter sighed. "Right. Looks like Usagi-chan is on her own." She sat down and began to think. "Now what do we do?" she mused.

Venus looked around. "Say, Mako-chan..."

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember us being surrounded by a bunch of giant white eyeless toads?"

Jupiter's eyes widened. "That was rhetorical, right?" She looked around. Nope. Not rhetorical. They really were surrounded by great grey-ish white, slippery looking, eyeless toads, each with a vibrating mass of short pink tentacles on the end of its blunt, vague snout.

Venus smiled winningly at the toad-things. "We come in peace?" she asked hopefully.

-------------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 9 – A Destiny of Stars, Part III

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

-------------------

"Crescent Beam!" Venus shouted, sending a blast of pure golden light out from her forefinger. She swept it across the charging horde of toad-things, cutting a dozen of them down in one move. Through it all, the creatures were totally, utterly, eerily silent.

"Sparkling wide pressure!" Jupiter called, and briefly gathered an intense ball of lightning into her hands before flinging it into the mob. It detonated violently several ranks back, sending beasts flying in all directions.

It wasn't enough. The ranks of the toad-things reached the two embattled Senshi, taking the fight to hand to hand. For a moment, it seemed as though the two Senshi would be overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers. Then an explosion of electrical energy sent several frog-things flying, and Venus and Jupiter went on the offensive. Venus leaped over a frenzied, enthusiastic but very sloppy charge, landed on the beast's back and used it as a springboard to launch herself into a spinning flip that brought her down on the head of another beast that had been about to attack Jupiter. She stomped on its head several times until it was solidly unconscious, and then ducked desperately as several of the gray-white things sent blows at her head.

Venus and Jupiter were fighting back to back now, each one covering the other one's flank. "Damn!" Venus cursed, now deadly serious. "How many of them are there?"

"More than there are of us," Jupiter replied, deflecting a blow that would have struck Venus, and then sending a tremendous blast of lightning into the horde. About a half-dozen of the monsters collapsed, smoke rising from their electrocuted bodies. "This really doesn't look good, Venus."

Venus looked out across the horde of monsters. It really did look grim. OK then. Time for something a little more drastic. "Crescent Beam Shower!" she cried, sending down a rain of golden energy blasts into the frog-things.

Then, from off to the left, there came a tremendous trumpet blast, and a rush of charging men and women in silver armour, bearing shock lances. For a few moments, the scene degenerated into sheer madness as those involved in the fray simply fought to stay alive. Then the ever-silent frog-things wavered, and a great cheer went up from the men and women who had come to the Senshi's aid. Then it was over. The frog-things were retreating, and Jupiter and Venus took deep gasping breaths as they looked upon what sort of people had come to their rescue.

One of the soldiers stepped forward. She was tall, taller than either Venus or Jupiter. Her armour was a work of art, at flowing lines and shining silver. Over her shoulder, she hefted her shock lance. She was beautiful, with pale, youthful skin, white hair, powerful green eyes, and... a golden crescent moon upon her forehead?

Venus rubbed her eyes and looked again. Yes. The woman clearly had a crescent moon upon her forehead. Of the fifty or so men and women who had come to their rescue, none others bore that mark: only the one. Hopefully, that was a good sign.

"Thanks," Venus said. "Those... things, they were a handful."

The woman nodded faintly. It then occurred to Venus that the woman was staring at her and at Jupiter as if she were looking at a ghost.

"Something wrong?" Jupiter asked, not quite as quick as Venus to let go of her suspicions for the sake of a crescent moon.

"You are Senshi!" the woman said, and there was reverence in her voice. As her words rolled out across the group of soldiers, the men and women under her command turned, looked at Jupiter and Venus with expressions of awe, and then knelt before them. The woman who had spoke was the last to kneel "I am Captain Ersa of the house of Serenity. Forgive us our surprise, Ladies Senshi. Aside from the Queen herself, we have not seen your kind in many years."

Venus and Jupiter exchanged incredulous looks, neither of them sure exactly what to do. After an uncomfortable few seconds, Venus took the initiative. "I'm Sailor Venus," she said. "This is Sailor Jupiter. Please, stand up."

The soldiers seemed confused at the title 'Sailor,' but did not comment. As one, they rose to their feet, though none save Ersa met the gazes of the Senshi.

Venus stared at the assembled soldiers. She recognized them now: they were the Royal Guard. But why would a unit of the Royal Guard be out in the middle of nowhere...? Wait. The Queen? Now that she was trying to gain access to them, memories of that far-distant time began to trickle into her awareness. "Thank you for your assistance, Lady Ersa," she managed, wracking her brain for what she might have said in such a situation during the Silver Millennium.

"You said 'aside from the Queen herself?" Jupiter asked, finding her voice at last.

Ersa nodded.

"Queen Serenity?"

"Of course."

Venus's eyes widened slightly at that. She knew that Ersa was watching her carefully, but she didn't care. "Take us to her, if you please," she said.

Ersa bowed deeply. "I would be honoured." She made a few signals that Venus vaguely recognized as Lunarian hand-sign, though she didn't remember what they meant. Ersa and two of the soldiers stepped out of the group. "It is half an day's journey to the city at Mare Serenitatis in the reckoning of Earth, my ladies Senshi. We will see you there safely." And off they went. Another officer smoothly took command of the unit of the Royal Guard and led the soldiers along, continuing their patrol.

True to Ersa's word, they marched for nearly twelve hours, stopping only one for a brief meal of bread, dried meat, and water. The water tasted sweet to their thirsty lips, and the bread and meat were filling, but little more could be said of the meal. The Moon was a lush place; after two hours of marching the grassy plain came to an end at the border of a dark forest. Undaunted, the party continued down a well worn path, with great gnarled trees growing up on either side. The trees were faintly luminescent with silver and green, and were clearly no Earthly species. Queer noises of strange animals filled the Lunar wood, some cries haunting, others beautiful in ways that twisted the ear, and others simply unrecognizable animal screeches. During the journey, Venus and Jupiter attempted to gather what information they could. Ersa did not know what happened at the end of the Silver Millennium; she had been born here, in the Dreamlands, the first of Serenity's daughters born outside of the waking world.

"The dreamlands?" Jupiter asked.

Ersa nodded. "It is unusual for anyone to come here in the flesh, much less two of the Queen's much-fabled Senshi."

"Ersa-san, if you don't mind me asking, why are you..."

"Leading a unit of the Royal Guard if I'm a daughter of the Queen?"

Venus blinked. "You're a daughter of the Queen...?"

Ersa laughed. "I am. Forgive me, I am used to dealing with everyday citizens of the Silver Moon and the Moon-Beasts of Nyarlathotep. For all that it may seem strange to you, it is tradition for the Queen's daughters to serve in this way."

Venus and Jupiter both sweatdropped, amused at the thought of Usagi leading a detachment of troops.

"Have I said something funny?" Ersa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's just, our Princess isn't the kind of person you'd imagine, ah, leading troops into battle."

Ersa smiled faintly. "Ah, the Princess Serenity. Though I have never met her, when the Silver Millennium came to an end, the histories say that she was still two years away from the age at which such training would have begun. How fares your Princess in the waking world?"

"We..." Venus looked troubled. "We don't know if she's alive or dead. We were in the middle of attacking an enemy when we were pulled here."

Jupiter smiled gently. "I'm sure she's fine. Worried about us, probably."

"I know that, but we should be there with her, not stuck in these... dreamlands."

Ersa looked from Jupiter to Venus and back. "Time does not pass in the dreamlands in the same way that it passes in the waking world, my ladies Senshi. You may return to find that only minutes, or hours, have passed. Does that comfort you?"

It did. Venus relaxed visibly, and Jupiter, only slightly less.

"It does," Venus said, and smiled. "Though we still need to get back to her. Do you think Queen Serenity can help us?"

"I am certain that she can," Ersa replied. "Whether she will or no, well, she will do what is best."

Venus shrugged. If it was Usagi's mother they were talking about, how bad could 'what is best' be? She cast her thoughts back into their earlier conversation for a moment before speaking again. "You said those things were called... Moon-Beasts?"

Ersa nodded, and then ducked to avoid a low-hanging branch. "We have no other name for them and know little of their customs or habits. They make their homes on the far side of the moon. Mind the branch."

Thunk! Venus didn't duck in time, and her head smacked into the branch that Elsa had ducked. She fell flat on her butt.

"Minako-chan!" Jupiter said, and immediately went to her friend's assistance, quickly helping the Senshi of Venus back to her feet.

Ersa very carefully refrained from laughter, though the corners of her lips quirked towards a smile. "Are you injured?" she asked.

Venus shook her head and blushed intensely. "I'm fine. You were saying something about moon-beasts?"

Ersa nodded. "Yes. As I said, they live on the far side of the moon, which we call, well, the Dark Moon. As the Lunar month draws towards the New Moon and the long dark, their attacks grow ever more frequent and bold. During the Full Moon, they appear to go dormant. Or at least they're content to remain within the borders of their realm, if they can feel such a thing as contentment." Ersa shook her head. "They are vile creatures. I once asked the Queen why she hadn't mobilized the armies of the Silver Moon to crush the Moon-Beasts, servants of Nyarlathotep as they are."

"Why didn't she?" Jupiter asked, cracking her knuckles. "Seems like a good idea to destroy a threat so dangerous."

"I thought the same, but what she said made me reconsider."

"What was that?"

"We rule now where they ruled once. Where we rule now, they shall rule again. After winter is summer. After summer is winter."

Venus and Jupiter weren't entirely sure how to respond to that.

Finally, in the tenth hour of travel, they emerged from the forest and beheld the distant, crystalline waters of Mare Serenitatis, and the great city upon its shores, shining like a jewel beneath the sun: Eternity.

The Senshi stared in wonder as they drew near to the city, its great crystal towers soaring up, up, up into the Lunar air, with vast, floating bridges connecting tower to tower. Flying buttresses met towering spires in a strange melding of Roman, Greek, and a totally alien architectural style that they could only call 'Lunarian.' Ersa had sent her two soldiers on ahead as messengers, and Serenity had prepared for their coming. The streets were crowded with every sort of human being, though the most common hair colours were white and silver, the skin tones of the Lunarians ran nearly the whole range: some had skin as dark as ebon, some so pale they might have been taken for Albinos. Some bore the same dusky shade as Sailor Pluto, and others were a very European white; In the Dreamlands, where very inhuman monsters quite literally stalked the nights (and sometimes the days), ethnicity was not accounted a matter of great importance. They were Lunarians, and that was enough. The vast crowds parted before the Senshi, knelt down and dropped into a reverent silence as they passed. It was not often that one saw a living Goddess. And there, at last, looming large both in memory and in truth, Serenity's palace stood before them, and they trembled.

-----------------

The upstairs hallway of the Tomoe home was dark and cool. The sound of rain had stopped, but the wind had not: it howled like a mad thing, and the house creaked and groaned. The temperature was decreasing slowly but steadily as the blizzard took its toll upon the house's interior warmth.

Usagi paid the weather little mind, but stared forlornly at the spot where Ranma had vanished for a long moment before looking up at Mamoru and Ami. "Mamo-chan. Ami-chan. Please don't leave me here by myself."

Mamoru embraced her, as ever, lending his strength to her cause. "I'm here with you," he said. "Always."

"Mamo-chan."

Ami's gaze softened as she looked upon her Princess and the Prince. That had always been the way of it. Her Princess. The Prince. "You're not alone, Usagi-chan," she said. "Your Senshi will always be with you."

Usagi stopped trembling, and looked up with a smile. "I know." She swept her gaze across the darkened hallway, filled as it was with threats unseen and strange twistings in the fabric of space and time, and she was unafraid. "I'm ready to go, Ami-chan," she said.

Ami nodded, and looked down at the Mercury computer. "I've connected to the Eternity main system now to help us find a way through the tesseract without getting swept into the other-dimensional space." She examined the computer display for a moment. "This is very important, Usagi-chan, Mamoru-kun. You both need to follow me exactly. If you step off the path, there's no telling where you might end up."

Usagi and Mamoru both nodded.

"Right," Ami said. "Let's go."

They went. In single file, with Ami first, then Usagi, then Mamoru, they went, and in Usagi's eyes was total, unconditional trust in Ami's ability to lead her safely out of the maze.

Ami only prayed she'd prove worthy of it.

-----------------

The court of Serenity was not at all like either Venus or Jupiter thought it would be. They'd expected something grand and spectacular. Something that spoke to the power of the Silver Millennium. Something that shone with the grace and the might of the Queen. After the sheer spectacle of the city and the approach to the palace, and their journey through the shining corridors of the palace, past servants uncounted and dazzling edifices and paintings of every sort, they certainly had not expected the magnificent gold-embossed double-doors to open into a warm, comfortable parlour.

And they certainly didn't expect to find Queen Serenity, as beautiful as they remembered her, and very obviously their Princess's mother, dressed in a very modern simple white blouse with blue jeans, playing pool, of all things, with a man who looked like he'd been yanked out of a Sherlock Holmes movie. Two guards in ornate silver armour stood at the door, but that appeared to be the only concession that the room made to royalty. As they walked in, the man was speaking.

"... don't suppose even you've seen a shot like that one before, Selene."

The Queen laughed. "I admit your skill at this game is difficult to match, Kuranes, though I never tire of attempting the feat." She looked up at the new arrivals, and her expression grew more serious. "Ah, my guests have arrived."

THIS was Queen Serenity?

"Se... Serenity-sama!" Jupiter said, thoroughly shocked.

Serenity nodded an affirmative, and for all that she was dressed like a modern woman, the grace of her movements and she sheer authority in her bearing still screamed 'royalty.' "It's been a long time, Senshi Jupiter. You look well. Younger than I'd have expected, but well." She looked to Ersa, who knelt before her. "Thank you for bringing them to me, Captain," she said, and though her speech was formal, the warmth in her voice was the sort one usually reserved for family. "You have done well. Dismissed."

Ersa rose to her feet, bowed deeply, and departed without another word.

"Ersa-san," Venus began, but Serenity shook her head.

"She has duties to attend to, Senshi Venus." Serenity glanced towards the man who yet lingered in the chamber. "I was just enjoying a brief game of billiards with King Kuranes, an ally and friend, and ruler of distant Celephais. Say hello to my daughter's Senshi, won't you, Kuranes?"

Kuranes smiled and unconsciously twirled his dapper mustache. "Charmed, I'm sure," he said.

The Queen sat down in a comfortable leather armchair, then gestured to the nearby couch. "Please, sit."

They sat. Venus was completely at a loss, and Jupiter wasn't doing much better.

"Your majesty..." Jupiter began stiffly.

"Such formality," Serenity remarked. "Please. Call me Selene. The trappings of royalty become so very tiresome after ten thousand years."

Venus and Jupiter exchanged glances. Venus recovered more quickly than Jupiter. She smiled brightly. "Selene? That's a pretty name. If I'm going to call you that, you can call me Minako."

"Minako?" Serenity asked. "That sounds positively Japanese." She looked to Jupiter. "And what are you called in your new life, Juno?"

Venus blinked at that. Juno? That had been... yes, that had been Jupiter's name. Strange. Inanna. Aurora. Athena. Her name. Rei's name. Ami's name.

"Makoto, your ma... um, Selene-sama."

Serenity smiled. "I'm pleased to see that the spell worked. Tell me, were you all reborn Japanese, or just the two of you?"

"All of us, Selene-chaaan," Minako chirped cheerfully, drawing out the 'a' sound. "Though we don't look it, do we? Well, Rei does a little bit, but none of the rest of us do."

"And have all of you awakened, or just the two of you?"

"All of us," Jupiter said. "Even Uranus and Neptune."

"Don't forget Saturn!" Venus said. "She's adorable. She really, really tries to be like Uranus. She talks like a boy, and she's the biggest tomboy I've ever seen, but she's just so pretty that it makes you laugh to see it. I bet you'd like her, Selene-chan."

Serenity's expression grew clouded. "Saturn has awakened?" she asked quietly.

Venus and Jupiter nodded.

"That's a problem. But you can tell me all about that later. Right now, I want to hear about Pandia."

"Pandia?" Jupiter asked.

"My daughter."

"I thought your daughter was Princess Serenity?" Venus asked.

The Queen's eye twitched slightly. "She is."

"Come to think of it," Venus said, "Isn't Ersa a Princess, too? Are there any more Princesses than that?"

Kuranes laughed out loud, and it was startling. Venus had forgotten he was in the room. "I can see that Venus at least is not much changed from the stories you told of her, Selene."

Serenity's annoyance vanished in a haze of nostalgia, and she too laughed. "I remember." She turned her gaze back to Venus. "I have many daughters, Minako. Pandia, the 'All-Bright,' was the private name of Princess Serenity, just as Selene is mine. She was the 'utterly shining' full moon."

Venus smiled. "It fits her. Though I don't think Usagi-chan would appreciate it if we called her that now."

"But to answer your question, I have fifty one daughters, Minako. Of those, forty were born here, in the Dreamlands, and while they are of the royal house, they are not the Princess Serenity. There is only one Serenity, and it is she."

"Only one Serenity?" Jupiter asked. "Don't you count as a second?"

"Not anymore," Serenity replied. "Though I still use the name out of custom, it is no longer truly mine. I died, Makoto. My immortal body in the waking world was destroyed. Though I am still a goddess here in the dreams of men, the Ginzuishou has passed on to my heir, and I could not reclaim it now even if I wished to: it has joined with her Star Seed. Or maybe it always was her Star Seed."

There was silence for a moment, and then... "Fifty one daughters?" Venus asked, amazed at the very thought of it. She looked at the Queen incredulously. She looked like a woman no older than thirty who had never born a child in her life.

Jupiter gave the Queen a strange look. "Fifty one daughters?" she echoed.

The Queen waggled her eyebrows, and she, Venus, and Jupiter fell into a fit of giggling. It wasn't what they'd expected, no, but Venus and Jupiter couldn't help but like their Queen.

When the giggles faded, Serenity finally regained enough composure to ask again what she had wished to know: "Now, tell me of Pandia. Or Usagi, as you know her now."

Kuranes spoke up, then. "Selene, I'm going to step out and let you three catch up. You will know where to find my afterwards, if you wish to."

Serenity nodded to the man, who promptly departed through a small side door.

Venus thought about Serenity's request for a moment. "Well, she's sort of a crybaby."

"And a slacker," Jupiter added helpfully. "She does really badly in school."

"She'd be pretty smart if she weren't lazy," Venus said, "And we still haven't figured out how she can eat so much and stay so thin."

Serenity raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound much like my daughter," she said. "Although she always was a bit of a crybaby, and she was very bright. But do you have anything at all positive to report about your Princess?"

Venus and Jupiter both smiled fondly.

"She's compassionate to a fault," Jupiter said. "I wonder sometimes if she's even capable of hatred. Even when everything is falling to dust around her, she always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

"She's kind, she isn't self-seeking, she isn't easily angered, and she doesn't keep any record of wrongs," Venus added. "When she loves, she loves completely. When she trusts, she trusts without reservation. When she hopes, you feel like she could move a mountain to save a child, and when she says she believes in you, you want to move it for her."

Serenity stared at the two Senshi in wonder, and a tear slid down her face.

"She saved us," Minako said. "All of us. We were all alone, you know? She made us a family."

Makoto nodded her agreement. "She's the sort of person who you would do anything for, and you never need to be afraid that she would abuse that."

"I wish I could have known her," Serenity said, her voice thick with emotion. "Seen her grow. Watched her become this person who has inspired such devotion in her Senshi. She sounds... wonderful."

Minako smiled. "She is."

There was silence for a few moments, and Serenity took the time to bring her emotions under control. When they began to speak again, it was of Mercury, Mars, and Endymion in turn. Of them, Venus and Jupiter had much to say, but soon enough, they too had been discussed in detail.

"What of Uranus and Neptune?" the Queen asked as the descriptions of Mercury, Mars and Endymion wound to a close. "How do Marduk and Ishtar fare in the waking world?"

Venus frowned. "Well... they're not exactly our allies. They help, but Usagi hasn't been very happy with them."

"Oh?"

Jupiter took over, then. "They act as if the ends justified the means. They want to kill Saturn to prevent her from destroying the world, even though she has no intention of destroying the world. Also, for a long time, they were searching for the Talismans, and they didn't care whose pure heart crystal was damaged or destroyed in their search. 'Some sacrifices are necessary,' they said."

"They were right."

Venus shot the Queen a shocked look. "What?"

Serenity's expression became a sad one. "Sometimes, sacrifices are necessary. Sometimes, some must be sacrificed if all are to be saved." She looked Venus in the eye. "Or do you suppose that I became Queen of an entire solar system on the strength of my ideals alone? Or that I have maintained my rule over the Silver Moon in this place solely through my good intentions? No. I have done ugly things in order to ensure the safety and security of my people."

Venus wasn't sure what to say. She didn't want to criticize Queen Serenity, and yet... and yet, inside of her was a still, small voice that whispered, 'It's not supposed to be that way.' Usagi's voice. "... Usagi-chan wouldn't agree."

"I know. She always was an idealist. I hope it is a long, long time before she comes to agree. Innocence like that should be preserved, don't you think, Minako? Makoto?"

Once again, that still small voice inside of Minako whispered. She wanted to tell Serenity that you must overcome evil with good, not evil with evil. She wanted to tell Serenity that Usagi's innocence was not a fragile thing that could be destroyed by an evil world, but a strength that transformed evil into good. What she said was, "Yes," and Makoto echoed her.

The Queen looked at each of the Senshi in turn. "Tell me of Saturn," she said, and there was a weight behind her words that had not been present before.

Venus spoke before Jupiter was able to. "Well, she's a tomboy, like we said. Her real name is Ranma, though that's a weird name for a girl."

Serenity's lips quirked into a smile at that. "Wild horse?" she asked.

"How do you know so much Japanese?" Jupiter asked suddenly. "For that matter, how do you understand us at all?"

Serenity simply looked at Jupiter, and Jupiter shrank beneath that gaze. "Our kind possesses the gift of tongues, Makoto. We may speak and understand every language of men. You will discover this power in time. Now, I believe you were telling me about Saturn?"

There was an uncomfortable silence for a brief moment, and then Venus continued. "So her name is Ranma, and she has a girlfriend named Akane. They had sex for the first time just a little while ago!"

"Venus!" Jupiter scolded.

"What? It's true! They're in love. What's wrong with them having sex?"

"Nothing's wrong, it's just..." Jupiter trailed off as she realized that the Queen was laughing. "Selene-sama?" she asked.

"You haven't offended me. Such practices were not uncommon in the Silver Millennium, my Senshi. You, Minako, were infamous in your, shall we say, 'openness' in that regard. Uranus and Neptune were together, and there were always certain rumors in regards to the precise nature of the bond between Senshi Mars and the Princess Serenity.

Venus's eyes widened, and then she grinned like a Cheshire cat. Rei and Usagi? THAT would explain a lot. Even if it wasn't true in this life, it certainly provided ample opportunity for needling when she got home.

"Still, it is good to know that Saturn has experienced at least some happiness in her new life. It will lessen the sting of it, knowing that."

"Lessen the sting?" Jupiter asked, not entirely sure where the Queen was going with this.

The Queen only smiled. "You needn't worry. I will take care of everything. I am not about to allow my daughter to suffer harm." She rose to her feet. "The Lunar day is long," she said, changing the subject. "Longer, perhaps, than your endurance. You have had a long walk, and I suspect you both need rest. A servant will be waiting outside the door. She will see you both to your rooms. Good day." And with that, the Queen strode out the same side door that Kuranes has exited from some hours earlier, leaving two bewildered Senshi in her wake to ponder what she had meant by her final words to them.

-----------------

On the edge of a high cliff overlooking an endless starry void, Sailor Saturn and Sailor Mars – Ranma and Rei - sat side by side, resting from their long exertions. It seemed like hours now since their battle with Cyprine and Ptilol, and they had only now found this safe haven to catch their breaths.

"So how do we collapse this 'four dimensional space?'" Rei asked, giving Ranma a dubious look.

"Mercury wasn't too clear on that. She said I'd be able to do it, she didn't say how," Ranma replied for the fourth time since she'd explained the plan to Rei.

"Well, what good is your plan if you don't even know how to do it!"

Ranma ground her teeth, and muttered under her breath about extremely uncute tomboys. That thought brought her out of her annoyance. She considered Rei for a moment. No, not a tomboy, but definitely uncute, and very annoying. She wondered how Akane was doing right now.

Rei noticed the other girl's change in demeanor, and her expression softened. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

Ranma shrugged. "Nothin'," she replied.

"You're thinking about Akane, aren't you."

Ranma didn't answer, but brushed a few strands of red hair out of her eyes and gazed off into the starry void.

"You can't fool me. I'm the Senshi of Mars. I know when someone's passionate about another person!"

Ranma looked at Rei slantwise. "You're makin' that up," she said.

"Would I lie to you?"

Ranma thought about that one for a moment.

"OK, do I have reason to lie?"

Ranma shook her head dismissively. "Whatever." God but she hoped Akane was all right. Her thoughts went back to the battle against Cyprine and Ptilol, and she couldn't help but shudder. She still hadn't worked out exactly what had happened there at the end, but at the very least, those two were dead. Though what that Cyprine chick had said at the end made her suspect that they might both be... well, she knew there were some things worse than death. Most of them involved creatures like the thing she had killed in her dream-memory: Y'Golonac. Even as the creature's name filtered through her brain, she felt that old familiar urge to speak it aloud. This time, she bit her tongue to stop herself from even starting. But the knowledge that Cyprine and Ptilol had been killed, even if indirectly, by her actions... it was different from killing a Daimon. That knowledge was a hard thing. It made her feel a little bit hollow, inside. She sighed.

It began to grow brighter, as if the sun were coming up over the horizon, but there was no sun, and all either of them could see was an endless starry void before them.

Ranma stood up, frowning. "Something's coming," she said.

"You sure?"

"Pretty sure. Can't you sense it? Aren't you supposed ta be good with spirits and stuff?"

Rei opened herself to the spiritual world, and immediately regretted it. Sheer chaos flowed over her in horrible, rotting waves, like swimming through a river of raw sewage. She gave a cry and fell to her knees. Yet there... ever so faintly, she could sense something. A holy power that chaos fled before. Something pure. Something... familiar.

Ranma looked down at her, utterly surprised. "Hey, Mars? You ok?"

The light grew stronger, and Ranma bristled, glaring about herself. "OK, I don't know who you are or what you've done to Mars, but you better show yourself right now or I'm gonna..."

"You will do nothing," a commanding female voice said from directly behind the two Senshi.

Ranma whirled around, and Rei was quick to follow. A shimmering portal floated in the air, beyond which stood none other than Queen Serenity herself. They each had barely a moment to register the fact that the Queen was dressed very much like a modern woman before the golden crescent moon on the woman's forehead flared brightly, and their worlds faded into pure, blinding light, and they knew no more.

-------------------

It was not easy sleeping when the sun was shining brightly through the window, but when every Lunar day is twenty-eight Earth days long, you tend to get used to it. Not that either Venus or Jupiter had managed to do so in the single Earth day that they'd spent in the kingdom of the Silver Moon. Still, as Minako, now detransformed, awoke from her fitful sleep in a vast, obscenely comfortable bed with silk sheets, decorated in yellow and orange, she had a vague recollection of having woken up in a similar bed on numerous occasions, and only very rarely alone. Come to think of it, was she alone now? For a moment, as she hovered in the place between dream and wakefulness, she almost thought she could feel the warmth of another person's body pressed up against hers, but the feeling faded as she came more fully awake.

Minako immediately began to blush. Had she really dreamed that? She certainly hoped it was a dream. She was sure she would die of embarrassment if that was a memory from the Silver Millennium.

She sat up in bed and looked about. The room looked vaguely familiar, and she had a faint, nagging sense that she should know exactly where she was and in what part of the palace, but it soon passed. It was time to wash up and get dressed.

She pulled on a rope near the entrance to her bath, and distantly, she heard a bell ringing. The servants would be along shortly to fill the bath. In the meantime, she would...

Rei burst into the room, with Makoto in tow, each of them looking like they had run no small distance. "Minako-chan!" Rei all but shouted.

Outside the room, a group of servants looked terribly flustered, and paced back and forth, uncertain of what to do.

"Rei-chan? What are you doing here! How did you get here? Is Usagi OK? Is she here, too?"

Rei shook her head. "I was with Ranma." She panted for breath between each sentence. "Usagi sent her to save me, and she did. Serenity... she captured us. Knocked us out with her magic and brought us here. Minako-chan, I've looked everywhere for Ranma-san, and I can't find her!"

Minako felt the return of a thing that she had not felt since first encountering Ersa on the plain: a terrible, cold dread in the pit of her stomach. She looked from Rei's frightened face to Makoto and back. "Why would Queen Serenity do that?" she asked.

"Queen Serenity is dead, Minako-chan," Rei said. "How do you know this isn't an imposter?"

No. She was sure it wasn't an imposter. She knew Queen Serenity, somehow, and she knew that this was her. "It's not an imposter, Rei-chan," she said quietly.

"How do you know that?"

"We know," Makoto said, in the same quiet tone Minako had used.

Rei shook her head exasperatedly. "Fine. Even if you know, I can't find Ranma anywhere. Do you know where she might have been taken?"

Minako shook her head. "No." The Dungeons. "No..." The dungeons. Yes, she remembered the dungeons now. Where the truly dangerous prisoners were kept: those that were too dangerous to be allowed to roam free, even in exile. "Yes," she said, and steadied herself on a nearby chair. "The dungeons. Kami-sama save us, the dungeons!" The initial shock passed, and she met the frightened eyes of her fellow Senshi. They were looking to her for direction. They always did, when Usagi wasn't present. She knew what had to be done.

"Queen Serenity did seem concerned when we told her that Saturn was awake. She also said that she would not allow her daughter to come to harm. If she thinks Saturn is a threat to the Princess... it's possible that she's decided to take matters into her own hand." She glanced at the servants outside the door, then back to her fellow Senshi. "Both of you, transform. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Makoto and Rei both nodded.

"Jupiter Star Power!"  
"Mars Star Power!"  
"Venus Star Power!"

"MAKE UP!"

Even as she spoke the words, Minako once again felt fully herself. Power rushed through her, and she knew that it was hers. The Senshi transformation didn't disguise them, didn't put them into an altered form: their untransformed state was the disguise. She was not sure how she knew, but as the power of the transformation washed over her, she was sure that it was true: she knew it in her bones.

The light faded, and where there had once been three teenaged girls, three goddesses stood in their place.

"Let's go," Venus said, and dashed out the door.

The others were close behind her. As they raced down the long, decorated hallways of the palace, their Princess's words rang clearly in their minds: 'If we all get together, we can find another way. There's no need to sacrifice anyone.' Whether they agreed was beside the point. The Princess had already decided their course: their hearts were set, and only death would break them now.

END CHAPTER 09


	11. A Destiny of Ruin

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 10 – A Destiny of Ruin

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

-------------------

Selene stood calmly before the dressing mirror in her quarters. The image reflected was not her own: within the mirror, a very male Ranma Saotome fought desperately against the Phoenix King, Saffron. For all that he had done, he simply did not have enough power to defeat his immortal foe. Then, when all hoped seemed lost, and it was almost certain that the boy would be killed, he changed. The sigil of Saturn appeared on his brow, and he _changed_, his body rippling as he went from male to female one last time. Yet this final transformation was unlike the one that the boy had experienced on a regular basis for the last two years of his life: this, he was being transformed into something more than human: Sailor Saturn. As Saturn plunged the Silence Glaive into Saffron's chest, Selene let the spell dissipate. She had learned what she needed to learn. She saw the signs of Saturn's influence in every area of the boy's life.

She nodded to her maids, and they went smoothly into motion, clothing her in the traditional garb of the Moon Kingdom's ruler: what some have called the 'Princess dress.' Even as they fastened the last clasp, Selene shook her head ruefully. She was not looking forward to what she had to do today. To put a Senshi to death was never a thing to be done lightly, but she could not see that there was any other choice. Though she felt compassion for the Senshi of Saturn, the Princess Serenity's safety was a greater concern. They fastened the last clasp, and she put Selene aside, once again assuming the familiar mantle of Serenity.

She considered her reflection for a moment.

Yes, knew what she had to do. She only prayed that her daughter would one day forgive her for it.

With a curt nod to the maids, Queen Serenity turned smoothly and departed from her chambers.

---------------------

"Make way!" Venus shouted as she, Mars, and Jupiter raced down the palace corridor. Servants and the occasional courtier scurried out of their path, and stared after them as they passed. Their mad rush would be the subject of many discussions in the near future, but for now, none of the three much cared. They had to get to Ranma before the Queen took action against her.

Onwards, faster and faster they raced, their fears growing ever greater as they ran. What if it had all been a lie? What if this wasn't Serenity at all, but some kind of imposter? Could this all be some sort of elaborate trick? They had no answers.

They came at last to a dull, steel door, seemingly out of place in the midst of the grand palace, and the three Senshi skidded to a halt. This, they knew, was the main entrance to the dungeon. This was where they would find Ranma.

"Ready?" Venus asked. The others nodded their affirmatives.

Venus stepped forward and pushed open the door, and the three Senshi entered the Dungeons.

They found themselves at the guard post: it was a large, open room. All the furniture, of fine make but clearly not of the same quality as the rest of the palace, was pushed against the walls, and there, waiting for them in the center of the room, stood Ersa, clad in silver armour, accompanied by six of her Royal Guard.

----------------------

Through back passages and hidden ways, Serenity walked, flanked on either side by a member of her royal guard. They weren't Senshi, but they were enough to give the appearance of security, even if she didn't need guarding. These passages were bare and unadorned, cut from living crystal that caught the light of the lamps that each guard bore and scattering it across every surface until the whole tunnel seemed filled with light. After a short walk, they came to a plain steel door, and Serenity nodded to her guards. They opened the door and stepped through. She followed.

-----------------------

"The Queen suspected you might try to intervene," Ersa said, glaring coldly at the three Senshi. "I won't have it. I won't let you destroy the world out of naivety and foolishness. Although I doubt you will listen to me, your Queen commands that you each return to your quarters and await her summons."

Venus felt her heart clench at that, but she would not be swayed. To disobey Queen Serenity was not nearly so terrible as the thought of explaining to Usagi why they had allowed Sailor Saturn to die. "We can't let her do this, Ersa-san. There's no need to sacrifice Saturn. We can find another way."

"Then I have no choice but to fight you. I have no illusions. I know that these soldiers here and I are no match for three Senshi. But we may at least delay you long enough to see the Queen's will done."

Venus stepped forward. "The ends don't justify the means, Ersa. Open your eyes! You can't murder an innocent girl and come away with clean hands! Soldier of Love and Justice, I am Sailor Venus!"

"Sailor Mars!"  
"Sailor Jupiter!"

"In the name of the moon, we'll punish you!"

Ersa raised her shock lance, and the soldiers with her did likewise. "So be it."

Battle was joined.

---------------

At last, Serenity stepped through the door into Saturn's cell. There she stood, the Senshi of Ruin, Silence Glaive in hand, glaring furiously at the Queen as she entered the room. On the floor beneath her, a curious symbol was inscribed: not quite a pentagram, but rather a five pointed star in the center of which was a tongue of flame. The sigil glowed with a violent glow, and though the girl's muscles were tensed as if for battle, she did not move. It was an ancient symbol: older than the Moon Kingdom itself, from a time when the prehistoric incarnations of the Sailor Senshi had done battle with the star-spawn of the primordial Solar System. Properly empowered, as this one was, and reinforced with many, many shielding spells, it could bind even one so powerful as Sailor Saturn, drawing her energy away into nearby dimensions, inaccessible to her.

"You wanna tell me why you've locked me up in here?" Saturn asked insolently.

Serenity nodded. "That, at least, you deserve to know, Senshi Saturn," she said.

-------------------

"Burning Mandala!" Mars shouted, tracing a line of fire in a circle around her body. The fire coalesced into a shining mandala of flame, and she pulled her hands back, and then flung the whole construct forward as a volley of fiery disks. The first guard took the hit solidly in the chest and went flying into the far wall, out for the count, though still alive, thanks to his armour.

"CRESCENT BEAM!"  
"SUPREME THUNDER!"

Two more attacks, two more guards sent into Morpheus's blissful embrace.

Ersa charged, lunging forward with her shock lance, and the three guards at her side did the same. Venus leaped back to avoid Ersa's lance even as Mars and Jupiter similarly avoided the attacks directed against them.

"Listen to me, Ersa. We don't have any quarrel with you. Let us pass, please!"

"I have a quarrel with anyone who would disobey the word of Serenity," Ersa said calmly, and twirled her shock lance around, caught Venus's foot with the blunt end, and swept the Senshi of Love off her feet. "I've heard much about you, Inanna. Your devotion to your Princess is admirable, but even the Princess must bow before the wishes of the Queen." She brought the business end of the shock lance down, aiming directly for Venus's face.

Venus's eyes widened, and she reacted instinctively. She brought her hand up as if clasping a weapon, and in that moment, she was: a shining crystal sword emblazoned with the symbol of Venus flashed into being in her hand, and sheared clean through the shock lance, sending its blade clattering to the floor several feet away. That sword... Venus couldn't help but feel heartsick when she looked at it, though she couldn't say why.

Ersa stared, wide-eyed. "What?"

Venus rose to her feet, holding the sword between herself and Ersa. "It takes more than that to defeat a Senshi, Ersa-san," she said, and struck the silver-haired woman once, twice upside the head with the flat of her blade. It was not graceful, nor was it pretty, but it did the job. Ersa fell to the ground, bleeding slightly from her scalp.

Venus looked to the others, and saw that they had similarly dispatched the remaining guards. "Come on, minna," she said, brandishing her sword. "Let's hope we're not too late."

Even as the three Senshi left the room through the far door, Ersa tried to rise to pursue them, but a wave of nausea forced her back to her knees. She coughed loudly, and put a hand to her bloodied scalp. She had failed.

"I'm sorry, mother," Ersa whispered to the cold dungeon air.

-------------------

It was accomplished. The explanation given. All that was left now was to finish it. Serenity raised her ornate, glowing staff over Saturn, who still faced her defiantly within the barrier field. "Goodbye, Senshi Saturn," she said calmly, and brought the staff down purposefully into a small, ornately decorated socket on the floor.

"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"

The chain lashed out and caught the staff in mid-motion, stopping it bare inches above the socket.

The Sailor Senshi had arrived.

Serenity turned towards the three just in time to see her two royal guardsmen slumping to the floor, thoroughly unconscious. She was not looking at the Senshi kindly this time. No, now, she glared angrily at them. "I see," she said.

"We can't let you do it, Serenity-sama," Mars said.

"Ranma is our friend, and Usagi's friend," Jupiter said. "We can't let you kill her. She hasn't done anything wrong!"

Ranma allowed herself to breathe again. But even if they stopped this Serenity chick from killing her, it grated on her. Her pride rose up against the very idea of being held prisoner. That was Akane's job, wasn't it? Akane got kidnapped, Ranma did the rescuing. Ranma didn't get kidnapped. But here she was anyways. She swallowed her pride.

"Listen to me very carefully. If Saturn is allowed to live, she will destroy the world. That is her fate, and it cannot be changed."

Ranma tried not to grind her teeth. What the hell was it with people taking one look at her and thinking she was out to destroy the world, anyways? "Look, Lady, I got no intention of destroying anything! I like the world!"

Serenity ignored her. "Whatever she may say, she has no choice in the matter. Her awakening as a Senshi is a portent of doom for your world. It is destiny. How can you not see this?"

"Serenity-sama," Venus said, stepping forward, but not releasing the staff from her chain, "It doesn't have to be that way. She has a will of her own, and can choose whether or not to follow that destiny."

Serenity shook her head. "You don't understand, Minako. It's not a matter of choice. Just as you are the Senshi of Love, Saturn is the Senshi of Ruin. This is more than a title; it is a metaphysical connection with the concept she represents." She looked at Ranma, bound behind the Elder Sign. "Look at this girl, Senshi. It is her nature to bring ruin with her wherever she goes. It isn't her fault, but it is her nature. In a very real way, she is ruin."

Ranma grew angry. Furious, even. "That's a lie! I ain't never brought ruin with me. I've always tried to do right by the people I met, even if that baka panda made it hard..."

Serenity spoke to Ranma, then, and there was compassion in her gaze. "Is that really true, Ranma?" she asked, using the red-head's name for the first time. "I have seen your life, from your birth until your awakening as a Senshi. You are an open book to me. Your influence destroyed the life of your childhood friend, Ukyou. Shampoo, your would-be Amazon wife, can never return to her village because of you. She might have become an Elder one day if not for you. Her life, too, has been brought to ruin. Your friend, Ryouga Hibiki, was cursed by your own hands to spend the rest of his days transforming into a piglet when splashed with cold water. Your constant fights have nearly bankrupted the Tendo family, and your carelessness in choice of battleground for these fights has destroyed the homes and businesses of many."

Ranma clenched her fists, her anger rising to heights she had never felt before in all her life, and as every hurtful word rang out, she became just a little more sure that the Queen was speaking the very word of truth. "If you've seen my life, then you know that it ain't my fault! That baka Oyaji was to blame for almost all of that!"

"No, as I said, it isn't your fault: it is your nature. Your influence also ruined your father, accelerating his moral degeneration until he became almost irredeemably wretched."

"I won't listen to this!" Ranma shouted, summoning forth her battle aura. "Mouko Takabisha!" Nothing. She began to glow with a sickly green aura, breathing heavily. "SHISHI HOKOUDAN!" she yelled, sending out a tremendous blast of green-tinged ki.

It dissipated harmlessly against the barrier.

"And because of your very existence, your fiancée, Akane Tendo, has been consigned to darkness. You **are** Ruin, Ranma Saotome." Serenity shook her head sadly. "No, Saturn." She looked directly into Ranma's eyes now. "You exist to bring about the ruin of all things, and **I will not let you destroy my daughter.**"

Ranma sank to her knees in despair, overcome by the Queen's words. It couldn't be true. It COULDN'T be true. It wasn't true... was it?

"You can't make that decision!" Mars argued. "No matter what she may or may not be, she's a human being, and you can't just kill her because of what she might or might not do!"

Serenity met Venus's gaze, and her eyes were fierce. "I will preserve my daughter's future kingdom. If I have to kill a single Senshi who will promptly be reborn to a new human life after her death in order to ensure the creation of Crystal Tokyo and prevent the extinction of the human race, so be it."

Venus shook her head incredulously. "Where does it end? If you're willing to sacrifice one to save billions, what about hundreds to save thousands? Thousands to save tens of thousands? Can you reduce human lives to a numbers game without losing yourself in the process? It's wrong, Serenity-sama. It might be the easy thing to do, and it might work, but it's still wrong. Usagi would never approve of this."

"You cannot sway me in this matter, Minako, Makoto, Rei. While I applaud my daughter's compassion, even compassion has its limits. If I must choose between Saturn's life and the life of every citizen of Earth, including my daughter, I choose to save the world, and my daughter with it."

"Even if I agreed with you," Jupiter said, "Usagi wouldn't."

"And her opinion matters to you that much?"

"Yes," all three of the Senshi said at once.

Serenity smiled faintly. "Good. Still, you say that I don't have the right to make this decision. That I can't take a human life. But Saturn is not human. None of you are human. You, like me, are goddesses, Senshi-dono. You may have been human, once, but even then, you were divinity only poorly concealed in mortal flesh. We have the right. The divine right."

Venus sighed. "Even if we do have the right to make that sort of decision, we won't go against Usagi's judgment. She would never approve of this, and so neither do we."

Serenity nodded. "I see. Very well then." She raised her staff, and Venus's chain shattered instantly. "It seems your friends have bought you a few seconds longer to live, Ranma Saotome," she said. "Prepare yourselves, Ladies Senshi." She began to glow with a terrible light.

"FIRE SOUL!"

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"

"CRESCENT BEAM!"

The three attacks flew towards the Queen, but she raised her staff, and they splashed harmlessly across an invisible barrier about a foot in front of her.

"Minako," Serenity said, gathering energy around herself, "You and your friends are still very young and new to your power. But I... I have ruled in the Dreamlands for ten thousand years, and in the waking world for thousands of years before that. Do you really think you can hope to match my power?" She gestured with her staff, and a powerful force visible only as a faint rippling in the air, like the distortion of heat above a sun-baked desert, flung Sailor Mars into the far wall of the cell and held her there. The wall cracked around her, and though she struggled against it, she could not move.

"Mars!" Venus yelled.

The Queen pointed her staff at Jupiter, and she too was flung into the wall, which cratered heavily on impact. "Do you begin to understand? You cannot stand against me." She gestured a third time.

Venus raised her sword and spoke the name of her celestial self: "VENUS!" She began to glow with a bright golden light, and the wave of heat-distortion parted around the blade of her sword. She needed more. More power. Though she knew she could never overcome Queen Serenity, she knew with equal certainty that she could not fail her Princess. Words came unbidden to her lips, and she shouted them as if they were her only lifeline in a vast and desolate ocean: "VENUS... CRYSTAL... POWER!" The force pressing against her ceased immediately, and the golden light swirled around her, changing her, changing her uniform, and when it faded, Sailor Venus stood before Serenity, this time in her Super form. "I... won't let you do this, Serenity!"

The Queen raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd be able to draw so deeply on your power."

"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"

The attack blasted forth from Venus's outstretched hand, and... splashed impotently against Serenity's shield.

Venus fell to her knees, glaring at the Queen. Could nothing even slow the woman down?

"MARS CRYSTAL POWER!"

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!"

Even as her friends gained their own super forms, Venus staggered to her feet, her determination renewed by their own transformations. "Mars! The Sigil!" she called.

"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"

"JUPITER... OAK EVOLUTION!"

Both attacks struck Serenity's shield. This time, something was different. Where one alone had failed, two together very nearly overcame. There was a terrific crack, and Serenity slid backwards several feet, leaving deep furrows in the floor of the cell. Even so, defeating Serenity was not their aim in launching this two-pronged assault: this time, they only intended to distract Serenity long enough for Mars to get her shot off at the furthermost edge of the glyph surrounding Sailor Saturn - the edge not within the barrier shield.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!" Mars had used the attack once before, when, in her desperation in the fight against Cyprine, she had called upon a power stronger than she had previously been able to wield, but now it came naturally, flowing through her as if she had been born to call upon it. The arrow of flame flew straight and true, striking the sigil's edge full force. The whole sigil flared violently, and then burned away to nothing.

Sailor Saturn was free. She rose to her feet and hefted the Silence Glaive. Raw, unbridled hurt roiled within her as she looked at Queen Serenity. "Death," she intoned, determined to strike back at the woman who had hurt her so in the only way she knew how. Purple and black energy gathered around the Silence Glaive. "Reborn," She raised the Glaive above her head, preparing to bring it down and end Serenity forever.

Serenity simply turned and looked at Saturn. Looked at her sadly, pityingly.

Serenity's words echoed in Ranma's mind. 'You are Ruin, Ranma Saotome,' and her will faltered. She lowered the Glaive. "No. You'd like that wouldn't you? You want me to prove you right. I ain't gonna do it."

The Senshi began to breathe again.

"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!" Venus called, flinging her glowing chain at Serenity's arm and lashing it quickly to a nearby wall. "Quick, let's get out of here!"

Even as the four Senshi made their escape, Serenity simply stood there, chained to the wall by Venus's glowing chain, considering what had just happened. After about a minute, she glanced at the chain, and it shattered. She smiled hopefully.

"Good luck, my daughter," Serenity whispered. "Your Senshi are a credit to your name."

-------------------

Usagi breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to finally have reached the bottom of the stairs. She could see the basement door ahead of her. Ami still lead the way, the light of the mercury computer casting a strange glow upon her face as she scanned the area for dimensional weak spots. Mamoru yet brought up the rear, determinedly guarding his Princess against any attack that might come at her from behind.

"Oh, thank God!" Usagi exclaimed, putting her hand against the railing to rest for a moment. The tension and the fear of the five minutes since Saturn had disappeared into the other-dimensional space after Jupiter, Mars, and Venus had been mind-numbing, and she was happy just to have a chance to catch her breath.

"Usagi, don't move!" Mercury said warningly.

"What?" Usagi asked. Then she looked at her left hand, which she had rested against the railing: it was gone. Her brain went into panic mode. Her hand simply... ceased, right at the wrist. She brought her hand towards her face to look at it and then stopped after moving it barely more than a centimeter as she felt something hard and sharp cutting into the flesh of her... invisible hand? "OW!" she yelped.

"I told you, don't move," Ami scolded. "Your hand is inside the other-dimensional space, Usagi-chan. Now do exactly what I tell you, and you can get it out without severing it, ok?"

Usagi whimpered.

"All right. Right now, push your hand forward – towards me."

"But...!"

"NOW, Usagi!"

She pushed her hand forward.

"Now stop."

Usagi's whole left arm was missing now. Her lip quivered as fear threatened to overtake her and reduce her into a bawling mess. "Mamo-chan! Help me!"

Mamoru placed his hand on her right shoulder. "We're with you, Usako," he reminded her.

It worked. She took a deep breath, and some of the panic faded from her mind. "Now what?" she asked.

"Now, twist your arm so the palm of your hand is facing the wall, and then pull straight back."

Usagi breathed an audible sigh of relief as her arm – and her hand – reappeared. Her hand was bleeding slightly at the wrist. "Why did that happen?" she asked, clasping her injured wrist.

"I told you, the space is very unstable. We're lucky nobody lost any limbs, Usagi-chan. Walking through a malformed portal could have cut off our arms, legs, and head if we were really unlucky." Ami walked three steps forward, and the others followed. Then she took a deep breath. "We're clear."

"Thank goodness!" Usagi breathed. And then, as if from across a great distance, she heard a familiar voice whispering: "Good luck, my daughter. Your Senshi are a credit to your name." Immediately, she looked up. "Mom?" she asked.

Ami and Mamoru both looked at her strangely, and after a moment, she became aware of their looks, and she blushed. "Ano, I thought I heard..." She shook her head. "Never mind."

It was time. She was ready. She looked to Mamoru and Ami. "Don't worry," she said. "I'll protect everyone. Even Uranus and Neptune. So... don't worry."

Usagi pushed the basement door open and descended the stairs, haltingly at first, but more and more confidently as she continued, and Ami and Mamoru followed in her wake. Down they went, down the long, damp stairwell. It was cold and dark, but in the distance, a grotesquely Malfean glow illuminated the very last few stairs. Undaunted, the Moon Princess descended into the very heart of the Death Busters: Professor Tomoe's laboratory.

Dark, cold, and damp. Condensation beaded along the wooden ceiling, and a horrible cold mist filled the whole room. Vast vats full of a putrescent green, glowing liquid in which floated living shards of Pharaoh 90's power filled the room, intermixed with strange devices, work benches, bookshelves, and scientific instruments of every size and shape. And there, on a small, makeshift altar around which were inscribed fel runes in the blasphemous tongues of those things that had learned to walk which ought to crawl, the two talismans rested: the space sword and the aqua mirror.

"This place is creepy!" Sailor Moon said, totally spoiling her dignified entrance.

"Shhh!" Mercury whispered. "Let's just get the talismans and get out of here before they come back!"

A pale, haggard man with white hair and a youthful face stepped out of the shadows, though they still clung to his face, making it difficult to see but not hiding it completely. He wore a white lab coat over a rumpled shirt with a tie and a pair of black pants. He was grinning. "Oh, it's too late for that, Sailor Mercury," he said, and his grin widened to downright inhuman proportions. "Eudial-kun. Viluy-kun. Tellu-kun. Come out."

A familiar looking woman with long red hair, clad in a red bodysuit stepped out of the darkness, followed by a pale woman all in pale blue, and a green-haired woman all in green. Each was lovely, but it was a cold, harsh kind of beauty. "Cyprine and Ptilol should be taking care of the Senshi who slipped through the cracks as we speak, Professor," Eudial said confidently.

"Excellent news." The Professor's grin widened even further, until it was clear that nothing human could grin like that. "It's so nice to be able to tie up loose ends, don't you think, Sailor Senshi?"

"What have you done to my friends!" Usagi yelled.

"Oh, nothing. Well, arranged for them to be killed. They'll probably be easier to destroy than those other two Senshi were. But now, I think it's time we got down to business." He gestured to the three members of the Witches 5 who were present. "Witches 5, kill them all. We can analyze whatever remains for incorporation into future Daimon models."

The three woman stepped forward. "Hai, Professor!" they announced simultaneously.

Eudial raised a tremendous, wicked-looking rifle. "Allow me to introduce you," she said. "This is the Fire Buster MK II, for which I am applying for a patent. Let me show you how it works!"

But neither Moon, Mercury, nor Tuxedo Kamen had been idle. The moment Eudial began speaking, Mercury raised her arms, called forth a veil of fog, and flooded the laboratory with it, accompanying the summoning with a cry of, "SHABON SPRAY!"

Viluy and Tellu scanned the fog for any sign of the three warriors, but they were gone. Meanwhile, Eudial glared at the empty space where the three had last been, leveled her Fire Buster, and depressed the trigger. Liquid napalm churned within the weapon for a moment, and then it sent forth a tremendous spray of volatile, fiery energy that hit the floor of the laboratory and splattered over everything nearby, instantly igniting it. "You can't hide forever!" she yelled. "Viluy. This is your department."

Viluy nodded, and raised her hand, releasing a cloud of nanites into the fog. The nano-machines went to work instantly, separating the fog into its two component parts: hydrogen and oxygen. The fog began to clear.

THWACK! A rose embedded itself in the Fire Buster's napalm storage tank. Eudial's eyes widened, and she flung the rifle away from herself just in time: it detonated violently, and several tanks full of Daimon eggs were obliterated in the explosion. An awful slosh of liquid napalm went spraying over everything in the vicinity, stopping just shy of Eudial herself. She took several steps backwards to avoid the heat of it.

"Damn it!" Eudial shouted. "Enough of this! "Tellu! Get them!"

No answer.

She turned to face Tellu and nearly gagged: Tellu had been caught in the spray of magically enhanced napalm. Half of her had been... _melted_, and the other half was even now sliding into the liquid that yet burned on the lab floor. She hadn't even had time to scream: a superior smirk still graced the side of her face that remained. Her body fell into the superheated liquid, and was gone.

Oblivious to explosions and the death of his underling, the Professor strode calmly across the room to the main circuit breakers and flipped the switch, filling the whole lab with bright, sterile, florescent light, leaving nowhere left for Usagi, Ami, and Mamoru to hide: but hiding was no longer their plan.

There they stood, Usagi in the center, with Mamoru on her right and Ami on the left, each ready for battle. "Laboratories are a for research for the benefit of all mankind! Those who corrupt the pursuit of knowledge for their own evil ends will not be forgiven!" Sailor Moon stepped forward. "A soldier of love and justice, I am Sailor Moon!"

"Sailor Mercury!" Mercury added, stepping forward.

Tuxedo Kamen said nothing, but also stepped forward.

Then, simultaneously, and seemingly unaware of how ridiculous it was, the two Sailor Senshi said simultaneously, "In the name of the moon, we'll punish you!"

"You think you can treat the Witches 5 so casually?" Viluy asked. She sounded downright offended. "DIE!" She gestured, and an intense blast of nanites flowed out from the glove on her right hand, visible as a thick, noxious cloud that moved with unnatural speed. Meanwhile, Eudial opened up a nearby locker and rummaged through it, searching for a usable weapon.

Tuxedo Kamen leaped clear, but the two Senshi were not fast enough. Wracked with pain, they fell to the ground as the nanites began to break them apart on the cellular level.

"Sailor Moon!" Tuxedo Kamen called, his eyes going wide as he saw the laboratory materials around the two senshi in the cloud begin to melt. "You have to stand and fight them! Get to your feet, Sailor Moon!"

At the sound of his voice, Moon staggered to her feet just in time to avoid a blast from Eudial's crystal-heart removing cannon.

Thinking quickly, Tuxedo Kamen flung another rose into the nanite cloud; it flew straight and true, and hit the floor with a crack, embedding itself into the concrete. It shouldn't have had any effect on nanites, but it was more than a rose: it was a manifestation of his power as the Senshi of Earth. The techno-magical field supporting the nanites simply ceased as the rose flew through it, and the smoke immediately sloughed to the ground in a thick gray sludge.

"Tuxedo Kamen-sama!" Moon and Mercury said simultaneously.

"Now, Sailor Moon!"

Sailor Moon raised her spiral heart moon rod, and power began to gather around her. "Moon spiral...!" She leveled the rod at Viluy. "Heart... attack!"

A heart-shaped blast of holy power flowed across the laboratory, smashing tables and blasting through Daimon tanks as it went. Unfortunately, it missed its mark: Viluy dove clear even as Sailor Moon was incanting her spell.

"Come out, Daimons!" Eudial called.

Nothing.

Sailor Moon stepped forward confidently, raising the spiral moon rod once again.

The Daimon tanks began to rumble, and every single Daimon egg within them began to hatch all at once. The unformed Daimons, vaguely female shapes made of black ichor, rose up from their tanks and surrounded the Senshi.

Sailor Moon went pale.

In that moment, two things happened simultaneously. First, a portal was ripped open in the fabric of space/time, spilling Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn ungracefully out into the laboratory beside Usagi. The Senshi quickly gained their bearings, clambered to their feet and took up defensive positions around their Princess.

"Minna!" Sailor Moon cried happily.

They had no time to celebrate their reunion, however. No time for anything at all, in fact. For in that moment, the eye of the storm settled directly above the Tomoe house, and with it, dread Ithaqua had arrived.

It came first upon the barrier that surrounded the Tomoe home. Even as the whole world seemed to freeze around it, the barrier resisted Ithaqua's power... for a moment. The whole house shook once, twice as Ithaqua drew back his massive fist and beat it against the barrier.

Eudial, Viluy, and Professor Tomoe drew back from the Senshi.

"Out of time," the Professor hissed, grinning like a maniac.

The shield collapsed.

---------------------

At the Hikawa shrine, Sailor Pluto opened her eyes and stood up as she felt the shield collapse. "It's time," she said.

Chibi-Usa nodded. "Good luck!"

Pluto smiled warmly, and then vanished.

---------------------

The Tomoe house rumbled horribly, and the condensation on the lab's ceiling froze solid. A horrible, deathly chill seeped into the lab. Distantly, Ranma felt the power of the beast that dwelled outside, but she was barely aware of it. Serenity's words kept running through her mind, over and over. 'You are ruin.' Ruin. Ukyou's life, ruined. Shampoo's life, ruined. Ryouga's life, ruined. The Tendos' lives, ruined. Akane's life, ruined. By her. She gazed about the room with empty eyes and waited.

"Damn," Eudial whispered. "Professor, we're leaving! Viluy, get the talismans!" She seized the Professor by the hand and dragged him off towards the far wall, where she pushed a button. The whole wall slid open, revealing a white hatch-back automobile in a small vehicle dock behind it.

Viluy dashed for the Talismans on top of the altar to Pharaoh 90.

"Don't let her get the talismans!" Sailor Moon yelled, and the Inner Senshi sprang into action, each of them racing for the altar. Jupiter and Venus proved fasted of all, crossing nearly half of the distance to the altar before it became obvious that they wouldn't make it in time.

They were all too slow, and there were too many of the unformed Daimons in the way.

Pluto, on the other hand, was not. In a flash, she appeared directly in front of the Talismans, leveled her Garnet Rod at Viluy and whispered, "Dead Scream." The ensuing blast of magical energy killed Viluy instantly, her spirit snuffed out and sent wailing to whatever judgment awaited her as her life's justice: such was the power of the Senshi of the Underworld.

"Damnit!" Eudial shouted once more, shoving the Professor into the passenger side before hopping into the driver's seat, buckling her seatbelt, and throwing the car into gear. The earth itself parted as the car drove forward into solid rock, clearing just enough space for the vehicle to pass before closing in behind it.

"Sailor Pluto!"

There was another great rumble, and huge, terrible white hands pierced the walls of the basement, grasping at the underside of the house.

Pluto raised her staff once more, and the garnet orb floated into the air, glowing brightly. A moment later, Uranus and Neptune appeared in the air beside her. The Space Sword and the Aqua mirror each vanished and reappeared in front of their respective owners, and a heart crystal slid out of each Talisman and sank slowly back into their bodies.

Uranus and Neptune opened their eyes just as, with a terrible heave, Ithaqua flung the whole Tomoe home off of its foundation, leaving the basement, and with it, the Sailor Senshi, exposed to his wrath. The unformed Daimons quailed, and fled before him, seeping into the floor to escape his gaze, but the Senshi had nowhere to go.

Ithaqua was upon them. The god of the Cold White Silence looked down upon the Sailor Senshi, and it was greatly angered by what it saw. A voice as deep and timeless as the mountains rumbled forth from its mighty chest. **THIS WORLD WAS MINE BEFORE THE TIME OF GALAXIA, SAILOR SENSHI. IT WILL BE MINE AGAIN. **The sheer weight of that voice was like a pressure on their minds, and within the sound of it crawled other sounds; crackling, freezing sounds, like the whole Earth being turned to ice.

The god's might bore down upon them even as the three talismans _merged_ into a shining, holy chalice.

"Sailor Moon! Now!" Tuxedo Kamen shouted desperately.

Ithaqua reached for the chalice, and in that moment, the world around Sailor Saturn seemed to slow.

She could stop all of this. All she needed to do was bring down the Silence Glaive, and all of this struggle, all of this horror, everything could be brought to Ruin. She looked upon the Silence Glaive. It would be easy. Just one motion, and it would all be over. Just one... what the hell was she thinking? Ranma snorted contemptuously. What the hell kind of thoughts were those? She wasn't some wimpy little girl who gave up just because things looked bad. She was Ranma Saotome, and Ranma Saotome never loses! The faint, sickly green aura that had suffused her since she'd heard Serenity's words winked out, the much more familiar aura of confidence sprang into being in its place, and for the first time since Phoenix Mountain, Ranma felt like herself again. She looked up in that split second; she beheld dread Ithaqua, great and terrible... and she smirked confidently. "I got this," she said.

Her mind raced through the available tactical options: Ithaqua's freezing aura functioned as basically a magical heat-exchange system in a gigantic form, but while there was a whole lot of hot ki far above the god, being actively pushed away from him by his aura of cold ki, the ruined basement was too enclosed to make use of a Hiryu Shouten Ha or any of its variants here. The only other thing that might work was the Yama Sen Ken. Or maybe... yes, that would do.

Ranma Saotome exploded into action. "KIJIN RAISHU DAN REVISED!" she yelled, leaping into the air as she channeled her ki into the Silence Glaive itself. "SILENCE GLAIVE RAISHU DAN!!" She brought the Silence Glaive in a great sweeping arc towards the terrible face of the god, and it roared its fury as a great, oozing gash tore open across its cheek in the wake of the attack. It's great right arm lunged after Ranma, determined to swat the sailor suited red-head out of the sky.

It only distracted the creature for a second, but that was all the time that Sailor Moon needed: she dashed forward, seized the Holy Grail, and shouted out the words that burned within her heart: "CRISIS MAKE UP!"

Sheer holy might rolled through the ruins of the Tomoe house, and in a burst of rainbow coloured light, a Messiah was revealed.

Then Ithaqua's other fist came down on top of the newly created Super Sailor Moon, smashing her into the ground, hard. The floor buckled and then cratered around the fist.

Mars screamed out a desperate denial of what she had just witnessed with her own two eyes. "NO! Usagi-chan!"

"Usagi!" the others shouted a moment behind.

"Usagi?" Uranus and Neptune asked confusedly, and exchanged glances.

"Usako!" Mamoru called, fear for her safety nearly overwhelming his sense.

Ranma landed gracefully on the far side of the ruin, narrowly evading Ithaqua's countering swat. As she readied herself for her next move, she glanced down at where Usagi had stood, and her eyes widened...

Ithaqua's fist cracked visibly, and a terrible, unspeakably beautiful holy light shone forth through the cracks.

Ranma blinked, and the others all held their breaths, waiting to see what would happen.

The fist shattered, revealing Super Sailor Moon, unharmed, standing in the impact crater. She raised her scepter, and a terrific wave of holy power surged upwards, leaving each of the Senshi untouched, but Ithaqua... Ithaqua simply ceased. Everywhere the magic touched, the god died.

In desperation, it dispersed itself into the upper atmosphere, discorporating willingly but the magic followed it, purifying its corruption, transforming it, remaking it.

And then, high above Tokyo, a shining being of light was born: wheels within wheels, ice turned to flame. The storm itself was cloven asunder with a terrible rumble, and clouds spiraled off in all directions away from the city even as great wings unfurled, dazzling in the sunlight. The being on high gave an exultant shout as it ascended, flying upwards, passing through the aether, and was gone.

Ranma stared.

The light faded, and Usagi fell to her knees, utterly spent. The Inner Senshi rushed to their Princess's side, and Tokyo lay in ruins all around them.

------------------

Far away now, Eudial drove on, plowing through earth and stone in her frantic haste to reach Mugen Gakuen and the safety that the building afforded them.

"Eudial-kun," the Professor said. "This is quite a setback."

Eudial tried not to grind her teeth. She failed. "YA THINK?" she snapped at the man.

He grinned widely. "But it's not as bad as it could have been." He snapped his fingers, and a Daimon appeared in the back seat of the vehicle, carrying with it a young woman bound in the same straight-jacket it had captured her with not long before.

"What's this?" Eudial asked, glancing at the young woman through her rear-view mirror.

Akane Tendo glared back at her, the black star of the Deathbusters clearly visible upon her brow.

"The start of something beautiful," the Professor said, and began to laugh madly.

END CHAPTER 10


	12. Wreckage

Still elated from the victory over Ithaqua, Ranma hopped up out of the ruined basement to join Usagi and her Senshi there in the Tomoe home's front yard. "Usagi, I don't know what'cha did, but I ain't gonna let up until you teach me that mov..." she trailed off, and her elation died instantly.

Minato lay in ruins.

Though the storm had been dispelled, what it had done remained. Not just the Tomoe home, but every building in all directions as far as they could see had been all but destroyed. A vast swath of still frozen ground stretched away into the distance towards Tokyo bay. The damage looked worse in that direction. Some of the buildings around them were still standing, but along the swath of frozen ground, it had all been completely leveled.

Ranma stared in shock, and she wasn't the only one. Close at hand, Usagi, Rei, Makoto, Minako, and Mamoru wore matching looks of horror.

"This is..." Usagi began, and then stopped as she let out a great, terrible sob. "This is awful!"

Mamoru put his arm around her comfortingly.

It's funny. In all of Ranma's fights, in all that went on in Nerima, all the chaos, all the random insanity, there had never been something like this. A wall destroyed here, a building smashed there, sure, but nothing on this level of sheer primal destruction. Ranma stared and stared and stared, and the others stared with her, totally unable to find the words to express their horror and grief. They'd saved the world, but Minato had paid the price for being the site of the battle.

Finally, Ranma shook her head. "Come on, guys. We got people waiting for us."

"But... all those people who lived in those houses..." Usagi said, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

"Usagi-chan," Minako said gently, "Pluto went off with Uranus and Neptune. Chibi-Usa is alone at the Shrine. She needs her mother."

That shook Usagi out of her horror-induced stupor. She nodded. "Chibi-Usa-chan," she whispered.

Ranma blinked. Chibi-Usa was Usagi's daughter? But she didn't look old enough to... how had that happened? She let it rest. It wasn't worth worrying about now. Not with all Minato in ruins around them, and who knew how much more of Tokyo.

"Does anyone know which way it is to the Shrine?" Rei asked suddenly, and there was fear in her voice.

Usagi, Minako, Makoto, Ami, and Mamoru exchanged panicked looks.

Ranma thought back. 'Right. You go over the roof of the second mansion, then hop across the street onto the far side, then keep going six blocks until you reach the gas station...' She looked for familiar landmarks. There were none. Each of the landmarks she had hoped to guide herself by were gone, as near as she could tell. Her heart sank.

After a few moments of panic, Ami finally produced the Mercury computer and began scanning. "Ok," she said after a moment. "This way."

She walked off down the street, and the others followed.

--------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 11 – Wreckage

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

--------------

Ranma walked slowly behind Mamoru and the other Senshi. They were detransformed now, but she wasn't yet. They were almost to the top of the long flight of steps leading up to the Hikawa Shrine. Usagi was being carried in Mamoru's arms, totally exhausted, though not from climbing steps. Even as they reached the top of the stairs, Ranma finally released her transformation.

That was the wrong word, really, "released." It didn't feel like a release of anything. It felt more like... she was veiling herself. Putting on a disguise. As the uniform of Sailor Saturn faded away, Ranma had the most peculiar feeling, as if her normal self were the costume, and Sailor Saturn was who she really was.

She found that worrying.

As the Senshi reached the top of the stairs, the first welcome surprise they'd had since leaving the ruins of the Tomoe home greeted them: the Hikawa Shrine had survived the storm unscathed.

That pink-haired girl - Chibi-Usa - was there waiting for them on the doorstep to the shrine's living area, and when the six girls plus Mamoru came walking into view, with Usagi lying limp, held in Mamoru's arms, she rose to her feet and let out a cry of dismay. "Mamo-chan! Minna! What happened?"

The girls (and Mamoru) each exchanged weary glances.

At last, Ranma replied in a tired voice, "We won."

Chibi-Usa wasn't sure how to respond to that. After a moment, she asked, "What happened to Usagi?"

Mamoru led the way into the living area, and gently lowered Usagi onto a futon in the main room. "On our way back," he began, and his expression was both loving and worried at the same time, "There was a man and a woman, frozen, in the middle of the road..."

**FLASH**

"Sailor Moon," Rei said, "What are you doing?"

With compassion in her eyes, Sailor Moon looked upon the dead couple, their faces frozen in expressions of terror. "It's all right. I said I'd protect everybody. So..." She held out her hands, and the Ginzuishou appeared, cupped between her palms.

"Sailor Moon!" Jupiter said, holding up a hand to stop her. "You could die! You shouldn't use the Ginzuishou on something so..." she trailed off.

Moon turned and met Jupiter's gaze for one terrible moment, and Jupiter seemed to shrink into herself, ashamed. "Trivial?" Sailor Moon asked, her mouth twisting slightly around the word, as if it had an unpleasant taste. "Their lives aren't any less important than ours, Jupiter."

The Ginzuishou began to glow...

**FLASH**

"How many times did she do it?" Chibi-Usa asked, her voice quiet.

Mamoru sighed, looking down at the almost lifeless Princess. "Nine times," he said. "We came across people who had been killed in the storm nine times on the way back." And he loved her for it.

Ranma walked into the room and glanced about. After a moment, she frowned and glanced at Chibi-Usa. "Hey kid," she said, "Where's Akane?"

All eyes went to Chibi-Usa, and she paled.

Ranma's heart sank at that, and though she didn't know what had happened exactly, she knew that it was something bad.

"Ranma-obasan," Chibi-Usa began, and then winced. She clearly hadn't meant to say that, and if the surprised looks of the others were any indication, it had given away more than she meant to, but Ranma was at a loss as to exactly what that meant, or what was going on here.

"I'm waiting," Ranma said.

Chibi-Usa sniffled, on the verge of tears. "I told her not to follow you, but she didn't listen! She went out into the storm a minute after you'd left."

Ranma's world seemed to shrink around her, and a deep, quivering horror rose up in her belly. "WHAT?" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"She said she could take care of herself. That she was a martial artist too, and... and..." Chibi-Usa burst into tears. "I told her not to do it!"

"Damnit, tomboy," Ranma whispered fiercely, turned, and dashed out of the shrine.

Mamoru sighed, scooping Chibi-Usa into a comforting hug. "It's ok, Small Lady," he said. "You couldn't have known."

Chibi-Usa only wailed louder, tears flowing freely. "I did know! I knew, but I couldn't tell you! Puu and I, we could have stopped her, but Puu said if we did anything more than tell Akane-san not to go, it would create a time paradox, and... and..." her sobbing became too loud and too intense to continue.

"Shhh," Mamoru whispered, holding his daughter as she wept. "It's ok. Shhh."

After nearly five minutes of sobbing, Chibi-Usa wiped her eyes and looked up. "Arigatou, Mamo-chan," she managed. She looked at Usagi on the futon, then at the others in the room. "I, I can't tell you much. But what's coming, it's bad. Especially for Aunt Ranma."

"Can't we change it?" Rei asked. "Do something to change it? Make things happen differently?"

"Not if it would create a paradox," Makoto replied. "We can't wipe out Crystal Tokyo just because Ranma is going to suffer for it."

"It would help if we knew exactly what it is that we can't change," Ami said. "Unless we know that, we'll be second guessing ourselves until it's too late to do anything at all."

"Can't you tell us just a little bit, Chibi-Usa-chan?" Makoto asked, leaning down to bring her face level with Chibi-Usa's.

"No!" Chibi-Usa insisted. "Puu said you have to be free to make your own decisions, or else they won't mean anything. If I tell you what's going to happen, and you..." she shook her head. "You wouldn't be you. You'd be what I told you, and you'd hate me for it because you couldn't change it. I would never do that to you."

"What do we do, then?" Minako asked.

"What we always do," Usagi said faintly, sitting up at last, though the act of doing so clearly fatigued her. "We fight for what we believe in. We protect this world, and each other. And that includes Ranma-san." She looked at each Senshi in turn, then at Mamoru, and then at Chibi-Usa. "She shouldn't be out there all alone. Minna..."

"I'll go," Mamoru said.

"Me too," Rei said.

Minako jumped in. "Me three!"

"Ami-san, Makoto-san," Mamoru said, "Will you stay here with Usagi?"

Ami and Makoto both nodded.

"Ja ne!" Minako called as she headed out the door.

"We'll call if we find her," Rei said.

Mamoru looked at Ami and Makoto each in turn. "Keep her safe," he said, and pulled a red rose from his pocket and focused on it. A faint glow ran across his form; he became Tuxedo Kamen, cape flaring briefly in the wind of his transformation. And he was gone.

---------------------

It's a sad truth about the world: sometimes, people pursuing the best they know the best they know how bring only ruin upon themselves. As they two had brought ruin upon themselves. It was only thanks to the intervention of others that Haruka and Michiru were alive at all, now, and they both knew it.

Haruka stared. Their apartment lay in ruins around them: between the attack and the storm, the whole thing was almost totally destroyed. She met Michiru's shocked gaze and sighed heavily.

"What?" Michiru asked.

"So many pieces to pick up," Haruka mused. "So much wreckage left behind..." She wasn't talking about the apartment. Or at least, she wasn't only talking about the apartment.

"I know," Michiru said, and rested her head on Haruka's shoulder.

Haruka wrapped her arms around Michiru, and silence hung in the apartment for a long minute as they simply stayed like that. At last, Haruka asked, "What do we do?"

Michiru gave Haruka a serious look. "Pick up the pieces. Together."

Haruka smiled, and it was a real, genuine smile. "I knew there was a reason I loved you."

They kissed.

Much as they might have wished to, they couldn't stay like that forever. There was work to be done, and no other hands but theirs to do it. Reluctantly, Haruka let go of the other woman and turned to look upon what was left of their apartment.

And what was left of it, after all? Nothing. Everything. A little bit of this. A little bit of that. Here a scorched, stainless steel pot lay against a pile of rubble that had once been their fireplace. There, an undamaged pan lay amidst the smashed tiles of the kitchen floor. One of Michiru's hats, covered in snow, sat at ease atop the frozen swimming pool. A charred violin case had been slightly too close to what was left of Mimete (which wasn't much – really just a vaguely human-shaped carbon mass) – the solitary member of Witches 5 that the Outer Senshi had killed during the attack on their apartment.

They went to work.

Her fingers soot-streaked, ashes mixed with melted snow, Haruka shivered faintly as she glanced sidelong at Michiru. "Were we wrong? About Saturn?"

Michiru compressed her lips to a thin line. "I don't know. I hope so."

"She seems to be getting along with Sailor Moon well enough..." Haruka shook her head incredulously. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself."

Michiru opened the violin case and surveyed the instrument within. She'd need new strings, but the instrument itself didn't appear to be damaged. "Which?" she asked. "That Sailor Saturn would get along with Sailor Moon, or that Sailor Moon would turn out to be..."

"Odango Atama?"

"It suits her," Michiru said. "But she's silly, naive, trusting..." She trailed off. "I hope all this won't kill that innocence."

So they passed the time, talking, cleaning up, salvaging what they could from the wreckage of their lives. Even as they packed away the last of their undamaged (or repairable) things into a pair of suitcases, the sound of a woman's approaching footsteps announced Setsuna's presence. She walked through the door a moment later.

"Do you have it all?" Setsuna asked.

Haruka looked regretfully over the ruins of the apartment. "Everything we could salvage," she replied.

Setsuna nodded, and smoothly turned and began to walk out. "Come," she called over her shoulder. "The house I've acquired should be enough for the three of us."

With one last look over their former home, Haruka and Michiru turned and followed Setsuna out. Out of the ruins, and back into the open air.

Beams of light streamed through what clouds remained, pinpoint spots of daylight in the gloom. The breeze picked up ever so slightly, and snow fell from the branches of two tree that had survived the storm in twin rains of slush.

-----------------------

Tuxedo Kamen strode calmly across the ruined landscape, holding off grief and horror with an impenetrable shield of Necessity. As he walked, he considered where he would have gone had he been in Ranma's place, and his course was set: the Tomoe home. Over rubble and across smashed foundations he traveled. Here a dead child. There a man, frozen solid by the storm. His eyes became as flint. He couldn't save them, but what he could do, he would do.

"Akane? AKANE!" For all their desperation, Ranma's yells floated lightly on the breeze. "AKANE!"

Tuxedo Kamen lighted on a large concrete slab jutting out over the smashed foundations of the Tomoe home and looked down upon the young woman who, even now searched desperately through the rubble for some sign of her lover.

He hopped down from his perch, the wind whistling around him as he descended through the cool air to land easily some twenty feet to Ranma's left.

Ranma whirled around, dropping immediately into a combat stance. "WHO... Oh." She relaxed slightly. "It's you."

Mamoru considered the young woman before he replied. She was beautiful, it was true. Her red hair hung in a gentle ponytail now, and her masculine clothes did absolutely nothing to hide her womanly curves. And yet... she clearly self-identified as male. Gender studies hadn't been his focus by any means, but he knew the basics. The path that she walked wasn't an easy one, but he had already decided to honour it. "Any sign of her?" he asked at last.

Ranma let out a long, slow breath. "Yeah. Her ki-signature's here. It's pretty faded, but she was here... I don't know. About the same time we were, I guess, before people started ta fall into that... other space. Then it..." Ranma clenched his fist. "There's the energy of one of those 'daimos' things, and it vanishes."

Mamoru didn't bother to correct Ranma about Daimons, but instead nodded. "What will you do now?" he asked.

Ranma laughed bitterly. "I dunno. Look for her, I guess. Ya know, without her, I ain't got no reason ta..." she shook her head. "I love her more than anything, ya know? It took a long time before I could admit that, but now that I have, I'll be damned before I lose her."

Mamoru nodded. "I understand."

Ranma looked at him, and Mamoru felt a momentary, uncomfortable sense of being weighed and measured. Then Ranma nodded her head. "I guess ya do."

Then, gathering his resolve, Mamoru placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder and looked her directly in the eye. "If you need anything, we'll be there. The others are all worried about you." He glanced up at the concrete slab overlooking the ruined basement. They hadn't come yet, then. "Usagi sent Mars and Venus are out looking for you. And me."

Ranma brushed Mamoru's hand off of her shoulder and cast her eyes across the rubble.

Mamoru sighed. "Saotome-kun, I don't know the details of your situation, and I understand that you think you have to act 'like a man,' but that doesn't mean you can't let your friends support and help you. We might not have known you for very long, but we're all here for you. Especially Usagi."

Ranma's expression softened ever so slightly. "I know," she whispered, and even though the whisper was clearly to minimize the risk of it happening, her voice cracked. "But this is something... I need to be alone, Chiba-san. For now."

Mamoru nodded. A breeze swirled around him, and then he was gone, leaving only a handful of rose petals in his wake. They drifted down through the air and settled at Ranma's feet.

Ranma looked down at the rose petals thoughtfully, and then resumed her search. In spite of it all. In spite of her fear, and the terror that gripped her thought at the thought of losing Akane. In spite of the anger she felt at herself for not noticing that the tomboy had followed them. In spite of it all, she smiled ever so faintly.

It was nice to have friends.

------------------

The world grew brighter as a great beam of sunlight fell upon the shrine's living space; Usagi sat up on her futon and smiled. There, for a moment, basking in the light of the setting sun as it slipped below what clouds remained, she was able to forget the grief and the horror of what lay outside.

She could deal with this. She could. One step at a time.

"I hope I didn't wake you," Makoto said.

Usagi looked up. Makoto was there, setting an oil lamp on the table in the center of the room.

"No, you didn't wake me. I was just..." Usagi's smile faded, and she looked out the window onto the world beyond and sighed. "I wonder what momma would say about all this."

Makoto smiled. "Queen Serenity would probably say you did your best. That you saved the world. I'm sure she would be proud of you."

Usagi fell backwards onto the futon and looked up at the ceiling. "You think so?" she asked.

Makoto nodded, and her ponytail bobbed in time to it. "I'm sure of it. We met her, in that other space."

Usagi struggled for a second and then sat up, doing what amounted to a sit-up from lying prone, and stared at Jupiter. "Really?" she asked.

"Really."

"How? Where? What was she like?"

The door slid open, and Ami walked in, drawn by the sound of their conversation.

"Well," Makoto began, "After we fell through into the other place, we ended up on the Moon in a place called the Dreamlands."

"You mean like in Little Nemo?" Usagi asked.

"Something like that. Anyways, Rei, Minako, Ranma and I ended up at the Moon Kingdom, and it looked..." she smiled wistfully. "Just like I remembered it. The city of Eternity, on the shores of Mare Serenitatis..."

Usagi saw it. There it was in her mind's eye, shining like a jewel on the seashore. She remembered playing in the gardens as a child, growing up in the court of Serenity, and the privileged life she had led. "I remember," she said.

"So the Moon Kingdom lives on there, in these 'dreamlands?'" Ami asked.

Makoto nodded. "We met with Queen Serenity and everything. You'd like her, Usagi. She's..." she trailed off. "Not what you'd expect. When we walked in, she was wearing a blouse and blue-jeans, and was playing pool."

Usagi laughed out loud. "No way!"

They all giggled, and when the giggles faded, Usagi asked, "Did she help you to get home? How did you get home?"

"Not..." Makoto looked guilty for a moment, and then smiled, though her smile was ever so slightly pained. "In a way, yes," she said. "I'm sure you'd love her, Usagi-chan."

For a moment, the faintest bit of suspicion arose within Usagi's heart. Was Makoto keeping something from her? ... But no. Mako-chan would never do that. Usagi smiled. "Maybe when everything calms down, we can all go visit her!"

"We don't know how. I don't think we can use the Tomoe house for that again..."

Usagi's face fell.

Ami smiled. "I'll try to figure something out. I'm sure there must be something on these 'Dreamlands' in the Mercury computer."

Usagi's face immediately brightened, and she called happily, "Ami-chan is the best!"

Ami blushed.

"But..." Usagi said more seriously.

"But?" Makoto asked.

"I was actually asking about Ikuko-mama."

Makoto laughed.

The door opened, and Mamoru entered, dismissing his Tuxedo Kamen persona even as he arrived.

"Mamo-chan!" Usagi called.

"Mamoru-kun," Makoto and Ami both said, with the 'hello' left unsaid.

Mamoru smiled. "Hello," he said. "Feeling better, Usako?"

Usagi nodded. "Un! Ne, Mamo-chan, did you find Ranma?"

"I did."

Usagi glanced at the door, but after a moment, when it became obvious that the red-head wasn't about to walk in through the door, she frowned. "Where is she?"

"Alone."

Usagi gasped. "Mamo-chan! Why did you leave her by herself? She shouldn't be alone right now. Not with Akane-san missing and everything!"

Mamoru gave Usagi a serious look. "She'll come to us when she's ready, but right now, she needs to be alone. To come to terms with everything, and to... grieve, if she has to. She asked to be left alone, Usako. For now."

Usagi didn't like that. It seemed strange to her. When she was grieving, she went to her friends for support, and her friends went to her, didn't they? Even the Outer Senshi... well, actually, she didn't know if things were like that for the Outer Senshi, but still. She shook her head. "I don't understand," she said. "But when she's ready, we'll be here."

Mamoru smiled, and said nothing.

------------------

There was no power, but they had oil lamps, at least. It was night, the day after the passing of the storm, and the occupants of the Hikawa shrine were only now readying themselves for bed. It was cramped, but it was all that they had available at the moment. They'd spent the better part of the day looking for their families and homes without much luck.

Usagi's house was smashed, and there was no sign of her family. She hadn't taken it well. Minako's house was likewise destroyed, her family missing. In fact, of all the Senshi, the only ones whose homes had survived the storm intact were Rei and Ami. Grandpa Hino and Yuichiro were uninjured, having been in a government shelter during the storm. They had returned about mid-day, and hadn't said much. The girls had found Ami's mother organizing a relief effort at the hospital, but the woman hadn't said much to her daughter, or to the others: she'd simply treated them as if they were any other group of shell-shocked survivors.

Now, here they were, all in sleeping bags and futons laid out on the floor in Rei's living room, the room lit only by the moonlight coming in through the window and by the fitful glow of the three oil lamps scattered across the room. Most of them were asleep, but Mamoru sat at the table in the center of the room, fiddling with an old short-wave radio.

"Mamo-chan," Usagi called irritably. "Go to bed. It's late."

Mamoru scratched his head and picked up the screwdriver again. "I've almost got it, Usako. If we can get this working, maybe we'll be able to contact someone in charge. Or at least get a news bulletin." He fiddled with the interior of the radio, and a burst of static came from the speaker. Another adjustment, and...

#Tshhhhhhht ... Scientists at a loss to explain the phenomena. Reports are coming in from across Tokyo in the wake of the ice-typhoon...#

"There!" Mamoru said proudly.

"You did it!" Usagi exclaimed.

Ami sat up on her futon. "Well done, Mamoru-kun," she said, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

#... Minato was the hardest hit, with widespread devastation throughout the ward. Chuo, Koto, and Shinagawa are the next worse. Although, as we reported earlier, the Imperial Palace was damaged in the storm, the Emperor and his family are unharmed. The death toll is unknown at this time, but it is expected to be high. The Emperor has issued a statement saying: "We must all remain calm in this time of trial as the relief effort gets under way. I know I can count on each of you to give your all to help Japan recover from this disaster."# There was a brief silence. Then the reporter's voice went on. #Officials with the electric company expect that power and water may be restored to the worst hit areas of Minato, Chuo, Koto, and Shinagawa within a month, but in the meantime, stay calm, and conserve water as much as possible until bottled supplies can be brought to the shelters.#

"It's really bad, isn't it," Usagi said. It was more a statement than a question.

Mamoru nodded. "It's bad."

Usagi looked downcast. "Do you think we'll..." A sudden knock at the door interrupted her.

Usagi glanced at Mamoru, and Mamoru glanced at Rei's sleeping form. He waited a moment.

The knock came again, louder this time. More insistent.

There came the sound of a door sliding open, and then the footsteps of a man wearing wooden sandals. Another door slid open, and then...

"You poor dear. You're one of Rei's friends, aren't you? Come in! Come in!" It was Grandpa Hino's voice. "They're in the living room. I'm sure there's an extra futon for you, at least."

"Arigatou, Ojisan."

Was that...?

The door to the living room slid open, and a very bedraggled, cold, shivering Ranma Saotome stood on the other side. Her blue eyes darted from Mamoru, to Usagi and back, and she asked, with just the tiniest note of desperation in her voice, "Do... do ya think I could stay here for a while?"

Usagi was on her feet and gathered Ranma up into a hug almost before anyone could blink. "Of course you can," she murmured, all but willing warmth and comfort into the girl's shivering body.

Ranma collapsed almost immediately, as if willpower alone had sustained her, and Usagi caught the other girl's slight form with little difficulty.

"I couldn't find her," Ranma whispered into Usagi's golden hair, and her voice caught. She struggled to suppress it, but a single tear made its way down her face. "I looked, but I couldn't find her."

Akane. She must mean Akane. Usagi thought of how she would have felt if she had lost Mamoru, and compassion welled up in her heart so powerfully that she nearly started crying herself. "It's ok," she said as warmly as she could. "We'll find her. Together."

Ranma let Usagi guide her to a spare futon with a sleeping bag on it. There she curled up, warm and comfortable for the first time since before the storm. Even as she whispered a heartfelt, 'thank you,' her resolve cracked. Her pride cracked. Silent tears began to flow down her face. She buried her face in the pillow, and as silently as she could manage, cried herself to sleep.

Usagi sat by Ranma's side until she dozed off. It was funny, but lying there like she was, her face streaked with tears, her red hair matted beneath her, Ranma looked almost... peaceful. As if she had found whatever release in sleep that she could not find in wakefulness. And tomorrow... tomorrow they would confront whatever came. Find Akane. Repair the damage that had been done. Find a way to save everyone. Everyone. Even Akane.

Usagi looked up at Mamoru, smiled hopefully and said, "Goodnight, Mamo-chan."

Mamoru nodded in acknowledgement. "Good night, Usako." He opened the sliding door, and left the room.

The sound of his footsteps echoed in the hallway. A door slid open in the other room, where Grandpa Hino and Yuichiro were sleeping, and then, silence.

Well, silence except for one thing: Ranma snored.

Usagi grimaced. This might be harder than she thought.

---------------

Hope springs eternal in the human heart, it's said. And so it does – especially when Usagi Tsukino was involved. But for Akane, hope was a far distant thing. Deep within Mugen Gakuen, she sat bound to a chair in a dark room. She felt weak and tired, and an Elder Sign was inscribed on the floor beneath the chair, glowing with an horrible, malevolent green light. But more than that something about this place was simply **wrong**. The shadows seemed to shift when you weren't looking. The angles bent in strange directions. There was a **Presence** in the room. A lurking fear.

She glared angrily about, looking for something, anything to attack. Something she could lash out at. Something to keep her from blaming herself.

'Damnit,' she thought bitterly. 'I should have...' but no. She wouldn't let that thought take shape within her mind. That she shouldn't have followed Ranma. That she should have stayed at the Hikawa Shrine.

"Why didn't you contact us, Mistress 9?" a male voice asked again. It was the Professor's voice. The man who had spoken when the monster had brought her into that car.

"I'm not Mistress 9!" she snapped.

Laughter. Insane laughter. It died away after about a minute. "Do you really believe that, my dear?" the Professor asked, his voice suddenly calm.

No. She knew that name. Mistress 9. It called to her in a way that she couldn't deny. "Yes! My name is Akane Tendo! If you don't let me go, so help me, I'll... I'll smash you all to bits!" She could still lie to herself, however. She'd always been good at that.

"Very well. If you're going to be difficult, we can make this considerably less pleasant."

The glow of the Elder Sign intensified, and a horrible wave of weakness mingled with pain tore through her body.

Akane screamed.

And even as the procedures began, even as the Death Busters began their attempts to bring forth Mistress 9, Akane asked desperately, "Ranma, where are you?"

The only answer was the Professor's maniacal laughter.

END CHAPTER 11


	13. The Deconstruction of Akane Tendo

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 12 – The Deconstruction of Akane Tendo

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

--------------

She wouldn't look. She wouldn't look. **She wouldn't** look. It was all a lie. She wouldn't look. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing would change that. Nothing. She knew who she was: she was Akane Tendo, and Nothing would change that. Nine. Nine. Mistress Nine. Akane. Nine. Akane. The darkness of the room seeped into her heart, and everything she saw was coloured with rage.

Clutching at her head, Akane screamed. It was not the first time she had done so, nor would it be the last: her voice was hoarse, her vocal chords ragged. Sweat had long since plastered her hair to her forehead, and pain nearly overwhelmed her senses. She could still feel the psychic probe crawling in her thoughts, searching, seeking, something. Seeking something. Something.

Seeking Mistress 9.

That name. It called to her, however much she tried to deny it. Sometimes, she felt as if she could almost reach out and touch the memory of it, but every time she did, something – her humanity, maybe – pulled her back from the brink.

She wouldn't look. Wouldn't see. Wouldn't see how she hovered over the body of a small girl. Wouldn't see how she stared as a spectral form floated over her.

The dam burst.

A woman. Momma? Momma, is that you? "Momma?" she asked aloud.

The spectral form rushed into her body. The woman screamed something. Something angry. Something indistinct. "...away from my daughter...!"

There was pain. Horrible, agonizing pain. She needed to lash out. To strike back at something. Anything. Anyone. Ranma?

No. Not Ranma.

Her anger went forth from her body in a wave of sheer malevolence; the woman collapsed instantly. A moment later, Akane felt the ground rushing up to meet her, and a bizarre sense of duality that slowly faded into a single sense of self... and then darkness.

Light.

A light was being shined in her eyes. A flashlight? Maybe. It was hard to tell. "...Akane Tendo..." she insisted in a hoarse, croaked whisper. She knew it was a lie, but she said it anyways. She was Akane. She would always be Akane.

The terrible, writhing presence in her mind vanished, and for a moment, she knew peace.

-----------------

"Well?" the Professor asked as Eudial stepped out of the holding cell.

The observation room was a cold, sterile place, filled with monitors and esoteric equipment. The Professor sat in front of the one way glass, looking in at the prisoner who had even now sunk back into sleep. In front of him sat a steaming mug of hot tea.

Eudial removed the strange, cold metal band she had worn around her head and placed it on the table in front of the Professor. "She's there. Her fingerprints are all over the girl's mind." She looked briefly uncomfortable. "Next time, you use the scanner."

The Professor grinned, and pretended not to have heard the latter comment. "I knew it. But why hasn't she come forth? Why is the girl still in control?"

Eudial shook her head. "I don't know." She plugged the metal band into one of the monitors. A strange, convoluted display of grids and numbers flowed across the screen. "But maybe some computer-assisted analysis of the data I recorded will tell us something."

The Professor picked up the mug and took a long sip of his tea. "Maybe," he said, and looked up at the display.

A moment later, he frowned.

That was when the one-way mirror exploded inwards, pelting Eudial and the Professor both with shards of sparkling glass. The Professor's eyes shot wide open, and even as he gazed upon the figure beyond, his grin began to widen to inhuman proportions.

There, standing in the holding cell, the chair smashed to kindling around her, was a beautiful woman with long, long dark hair that spilled down like a cloak behind her, and cold, angry eyes. She was clad in a long, shimmering black dress that hugged her figure in pleasing ways, and waves of sheer malevolent power radiated out from her. On her forehead was a black star – the symbol of the Death Busters.

"That won't be necessary, Eudial-kun" The Professor said, and rose to his feet." He bowed deeply. "Welcome back, Mistress 9."

But the woman only glared hatefully at him. "I'LL KILL YOU!" she shrieked, and her hair began to move, growing wildly, strands writhing like snakes as they flowed through the shattered glass barrier and quickly seized both the Professor and Eudial by their throats in a vice-like grip.

"But... you're our ally...!" the Professor choked out.

"You keep saying that," the woman said. "But you made one fatal mistake, Germatoid: you separated me from Ranma. So... DIE!" The long ropes of her hair constricted tightly, squeezing harder, harder, harder, until the Professor's vision began to go black, and then...

The pressure vanished.

Coughing, the Professor fell to his knees and stared into the holding cell. There, lying unconscious on the floor, was Akane Tendo. Her hair was down to her ankles now, but it was unmistakably her; and on her forehead, the sigil of the Death Busters was writ for all to see.

The Professor and Eudial exchanged shocked looks. "This..." The Professor began, "This could be more complicated than I had thought.

------------------

Ranma was a strange sort of sleeper. She was situationally (and sometimes simultaneously) both a light and heavy sleeper. She could sleep through a hurricane, but a little water to the face brought her into wakefulness almost instantly. In this case, there was neither water to the face nor a hurricane to wake her. There was, however, what was perhaps the only other influence that could encourage her to leave the land of slumber behind her: the smell of food. Someone was cooking, and it smelled **good**.

The red-head's nose twitched twice. She sniffed the air. Damn. Not just good food, but okonomiyaki. Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up.

Instantly, the world rushed into focus. All the sights, scents, sounds, and feelings swirled around her awareness for a split second before her mind dropped them into understandable categories. She was in a sleeping bag on top of a futon that was laid out on the wooden floor of Rei's living room. Various other sleeping bags, all of them empty, were rolled up in the corner, their respective futons missing, likely put back into the closet. It was still a bit chilly, but the warmth of the sunlight was beginning to filter through. There was a very slight breeze, and, of course, the smell of okonomiyaki filled the room.

Ranma sat there in her sleeping bag for a moment, feeling the breeze on her face. Then something else clicked in her brain: Okonomiyaki meant Ucchan.

She was on her feet almost instantly, out the sliding door, down the hallway, and into the kitchen. The sudden change from one area to the other might have been shocking to someone who wasn't from Nerima. The area of the shrine where Rei made her home was very modern; she owned a computer, there was a television, and all sorts of other electronic gadgets scattered about, though all nonfunctional now that the power was out. Here, it might as well have still been a setting straight out of ancient Japan. Well, except for the very modern Japanese girls gathered around the table in various ensembles, ranging from a set of blue denim bib-and-brace dungarees with a yellow t-shirt underneath (Minako) to a school seifuku (Ami). There, serving the food was...

"Ucchan?" Ranma asked hopefully.

Makoto looked up, confused. "Uh, no."

"Ranma, you're up!" Usagi chirped cheerfully.

Ranma looked downcast. "Oh."

"Help yourself, though," Makoto said. "I made enough Okonomiyaki for everyone."

That brightened Ranma's mood considerably. She sat down and immediately dug in. "Thanks, Makoto!" she said between mouthfuls.

Makoto beamed.

Rei looked up as they all finished eating. "Ranma-san, there's a furo down the hall, but..." she and Ami exchanged glances.

Ranma got the distinct impression that they had spoken of this before she'd woken up.

"You don't have any other clothes, do you?" Ami asked. It wasn't so much a question as a statement.

Ranma's heart sank at that. She hadn't even thought about anything like that, but now that she did, the thought came rushing over her with a suddenness that was almost shocking: Her house was totally destroyed – she'd discovered that in her wanderings the previous day. Were her parents alive? ... She figured it'd take more than an ice-tywhatsit to take down her old man, but her mom... well, she just didn't know. "I..." she trailed off. "I don't know," she said, and there was the tiniest hint of panic in her voice. "The house is gone, but... but I should go check on my folks..."

The sad looks that the other girls gave her only made her heart sink even lower.

"Ranma-chan," Usagi began. When Ranma didn't object to the suffix, she continued. "We're going out today to..." she swallowed heavily, "... to check the shelters and see if our families are ok. You can come with us."

Ranma nodded numbly.

"Since you don't have anything to wear besides what you're wearing," Rei said, "You can borrow some of ours." She looked at Ranma closely, considering her build. "Normally, either Minako-chan or Mako-chan are your best bet, but since they're in the same situation as you, I think you're going to have to borrow some of mine."

"I..." Ranma sighed, and nodded. "Arigatou, Rei-san." She stood up. "I think I'm gonna go take a bath now."

Rei nodded. "I'll have something laid out for you when you get out. Do you have any preference?"

"Nothin' too girly," Ranma said over her shoulder as she rose to her feet. "I ain't into all that frilly cra..." She changed what she was about to say. "I don't like, uh, frilly stuff."

Rei got an odd look on her face, like she knew that Ranma had almost said something insulting, but said nothing about it. "Nothing frilly," she said, sounding faintly amused. "Got it."

Ranma went out. It wasn't too hard to find the furo, though it did take a little poking around. In one room, Rei's grandfather was still sleeping on a futon in the corner. In another, Mamoru was writing in his diary – Ranma left him undisturbed. When she finally found the furo, she put up the occupied sign and stripped off her now quite dirty Chinese clothing – a short-sleeved light blue silk shirt with black pants.

Naked, for the first time in days, she dumped a bucket of cold water over herself. The cold jolted whatever sleepiness remained straight out of her system. "Brrr!" she said, gathered up the necessary supplies, and began the task of getting herself clean. She finished with another bucket of cold water dumped over her head, and then slipped into the furo.

The water was blessedly warm, and as she sank into it, she almost fancied – almost – that she could feel that familiar tingle that had come with regaining her male body, once upon a time.

She looked down at herself.

No such luck.

Ranma sighed.

----------------

Akane sighed.

It had probably been too much to hope that she'd find Ranma there to rescue her when she awoke, but at the very least, she had hoped not to be still tied to a chair. Although... this didn't look like the same chair she had been in earlier.

She felt tired. Not sleepy, but exhausted. All of her limbs ached, and her hair...? How had that happened? Her hair was long enough that it must be down to her ankles! She struggled for a moment and got a look at it. Yep. There it was. Longer than it had ever been.

After a moment, she grit her teeth and berated herself for thinking about something so trivial when she should be trying to figure out a way to escape. Ranma wasn't coming. He had no idea where she was.

There was something else. Something in the corner of her mind – a kind of weight. She shied away from it instinctively and began tugging at her bonds.

No luck. The bonds held fast.

She looked down. She was on top of that sigil again. Whatever it was. Somehow, she knew that if only it weren't there, she wouldn't feel so exhausted and weak. If it weren't there... her hair began to writhe.

Immediately, she screamed, and her hair stopped moving instantly.

Akane blinked. "What on Earth...?"

Experimentally, she tried to will a section of hair to move.

It did. A shudder went through her scalp, and the hair moved.

A thrill of excitement went through her, and she grinned. "Kidnap me, will they? I'll show them not to mess with a martial artist." She willed it, and her hair moved, its tips hardening to supernatural strength and scraping violently across the Elder Sign.

The Elder Sign flared violently, and weakness and pain mixed together nearly overcame her.

Gritting her teeth, Akane tried again. Again. Again, and again. Each time, the sigil flared brighter, and each time, Akane came a little bit closer to blacking out in the wake of her attempt. And then, finally, the magic of the Sign failed: it crumbled into ash; there was a burst of Eldritch power, and she was free. Free!

She rose to her feet in triumph. She HAD shown them! She could take care of herself! She was Akane Tendo, and she could take care of herself! She was...

Memories roared out from that isolated corner of her mind, surging across her awareness like tidal wave, burying her all at once, and she knew. She **KNEW.**

Akane knew who she had always been.

**FLASH  
**

The laboratory was burning. It was all burning. Flame and heat and smoke filled the air, and nothing human would survive it for long. The experiment had failed. Professor Tomoe's revolutionary attempt at drawing energy from subspace had drawn her forth, and now she searched desperately through the ruins of the burning laboratory for her intended host. Nearby, Tomoe Soichi lay dying.

"Damnit, where is she!?" Akane hissed. Disembodied, she was a vast, dark, vaguely female humanoid shape, and the shadows writhed around her, but she was fading; her spectral form grew fainter and fainter by the moment. She needed a host. Every precious moment she went without an appropriate host was a diminishment of her power. Enraged, she scooped up the Professor by his throat, heedless of his dying state. "Where is your daughter, Doctor?" she demanded. "Where is my vessel?"

The damnable man smiled faintly, as if he didn't even realize that she held him by his throat. "I always wanted a daughter..." he coughed violently – a great, wracking wet cough. When he had finished, there was blood on his lips.

Akane dropped him disgustedly. She couldn't understand it. What had gone wrong? The stars were in line. This was the night she had to take possession of her host, or lose everything. Hotaru Tomoe – the reborn Soldier of Ruin – had been born to this man's wife. Her divinations had shown this to be true. They had also shown her that the one who would be the Messiah of Silence was in mortal danger this night, and every spell she'd cast had led her to believe it would be here, now. Leaning down over the man, she intoned in a grave voice, "Where is Hotaru Tomoe?"

Soichi looked up at her, and he seemed surprised. "Hotaru-chan?" he asked hopefully.

Disgust rose up in Akane. "Your daughter, Doctor Tomoe. Where is she?"

The light in Soichi's eyes faded slightly. "Hotaru," he whispered desperately. "Tomoe Hotaru. That was what we were going to name her. If she hadn't been..." tears began to shine in his eyes. "If she hadn't been... stillborn... six years ago now." Even as his life bled out from the horrible gashes across his body, he began to cry.

Akane snarled and whirled away from the broken man. Germatoid could see what use he could make of this one, but it seemed that if she herself was to survive the night, she would need to find another host. Another host... While no host would be nearly so ideal as Hotaru Tomoe would have been, she was no longer in a position to be picky. In great wrath, she departed the burning lab.

She would have to be quick. Any female would do, provided she was young enough that she would be unable to effectively fight off her influence, even in this weakened state. She cast about for a mind appropriate to her needs. Something she could use. Something...

There. She would do.

She felt a bizarre sense of duality, then, as if seeing the same event from two different perspectives. She was the girl. She was the spirit. She watched herself descend upon herself. There, at her side, Kasumi shrank back, sensing something was wrong. Nabiki screamed, and their mother...

It hurt. Everything hurt. Agonizing pain. Her mother strode forward, her battle aura manifesting visibly around her. "GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" she yelled, fierce determination burning in her eyes as she projected a rudimentary ki-attack at the possessing spirit.

Kasumi and Nabiki were screaming.

Momma was hurting her. Momma was hurting her! She needed to lash out. To strike back... somehow. Her anger went forth from her body in a wave of sheer malevolence

Momma fell to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut; Akane felt simultaneously horrified and exultant. She screamed/rejoiced. She had found a host.

But something was wrong. Something... she had waited too long. She had waited too long! She was too weak to continue as an independent entity within the mind of this human girl, but maybe... With any luck, the gestalt mind would retain enough of Mistress 9 to carry out her mission. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than death.

For one of her kind, anything was better than death.

Kasumi and Nabiki were still screaming, their shrill cries echoing far into the night. Momma wasn't moving.

Akane poured herself out into herself. Mistress 9 joined with Akane, and in that moment, two became one. She felt the ground rushing up to meet her, and the bizarre sense of duality slowly faded into a single sense of self... and then darkness.

**FLASH**

She had done it. SHE HAD DONE IT. Momma was dead because of HER. Sure, she had eventually woken up, but... but the wasting sickness had started then and there. Because of her.

Akane vomited noisily onto the floor of the cell. And then, overcome by self-loathing, she sank to her knees, and wept.

----------------

Ranma opened her eyes and sat up. She must have dozed off. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She shook her head looked around. OK. There was a clock on the wall. She'd only been out about five minutes. That wasn't so bad. She rose to her feet, water dripping from her nude form, and stepped out of the bath. Even as she stepped out, she half expected the door to open, and for Akane to walk in, like she had so long ago... but no.

Akane was gone.

Ranma would get her back. It helped that Usagi had promised to help. It was hard to explain. She seemed like a silly girl, and certainly not one to take seriously, but when Usagi made such a promise, you really couldn't help but believe her.

Filled with a new sense of purpose, Ranma grabbed a towel and began drying her hair.

In the dressing room, Ranma was pleasantly surprised to find a very non-frilly selection of clothing there waiting for her: a grayish blouse, a pair of dark slacks, and a red collared jacket with zippers across either breast. She put it on and found that it fit reasonably well. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it worked. The sleeves were a little long, as were the pant legs, but that was easily fixed.

She left her hair loose and walked back to Rei's living room.

The girls, relocated there now, all looked up as Ranma entered.

Rei nodded approvingly. "Not bad," she said.

"Feeling better?" Usagi asked, smiling.

Ranma nodded, blushing slightly from all the attention. "Uh, Yeah. Anyways, we going?"

Each of the other girls nodded an affirmative.

"I'm sure our families are all ok," Usagi said, rising to her feet. "Let's go find them!" She strode purposefully out of the room; the inner Senshi followed, and Ranma followed.

---------------

The walk to the first shelter was done mostly in silence, with Ranma trailing slightly behind the other girls. Soon enough, however, they reached the Crown Game Center; the windows were gone now, destroyed in the storm, the now useless (and many badly damaged) game machines had all been pushed against the far wall, and the room was full of dirty, tired people. The entrance to the official shelter itself lay open in the back of the arcade: a steel door opened to a stairwell that led to the government shelter beneath the Crown Game Center where the people here had survived the storm. An old woman rested against the wall, her aged husband sitting at her side, with their grandchildren at play all around them. A young woman, her belly visibly swollen in the later stages of pregnancy, stood alone, blinking confusedly. A tired middle-aged woman in a doctor's uniform – one of the only people present who actually looked reasonably clean - was giving a little boy a shot in his right arm.

"Hello mother," Ami said as the girls walked into the game center.

Doctor Mizuno looked up momentarily. "Ami," she said in acknowledgement.

Ranma glanced at the older woman. So this was Ami's mother, huh? She could tell. Though Ami's hair was tinged blue and her mother's wasn't, Mizuno-sensei looked very much like a grown up version of her daughter. Well, almost. There were other differences: Mizuno-sensei was more obviously Japanese, while Ami was... Ranma wasn't sure. Actually, now that she thought about it, Ami looked at least half Mercurian. She blinked. Mercurian? Where had that...? Oh. Right.

Damn dream memories.

"Mother," Ami began stiffly, "Do you have a list of the families at this shelter?" The other girls looked worried by the interaction between Ami and her mother, but Ranma didn't give it any mind.

Mizuno-sensei nodded, gesturing to the thick sign-in binder on a nearby table. "If you intend to stay," she said, "Be sure to sign in so we know you're here." She examined the boy's arm who she had just given the shot to. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked warmly.

"No, lady," the boy said, staring wonderingly at the spot where the needle had gone in. "It didn't hurt at all!"

Mizuno-sensei smiled. "Off you go, then!"

Ami walked to the table, scrubbed at her eyes angrily, and opened the folder.

The girls exchanged glances. "Mizuno-sensei," Rei said, barely managing to keep the scolding edge out of her voice, though it didn't change what she said, "You shouldn't be so cold to her."

Mizuno-sensei looked up and fiercely, angrily met Rei's gaze.

Rei didn't look away.

After a few moments, the woman's expression softened, and she looked troubled for a moment. "Hino-san, I have a job to do," she said. "Minato-ku is a disaster zone. These people need my help, and I'm the only doctor at this shelter... if I let myself get distracted from that..." her voice wavered, and for a moment, there seemed to be tears forming in her eyes. The moment passed, and her expression hardened again; she wiped away the half-formed tears and became the cool professional woman again. "I'm sorry, Hino-san, but I have a lot of work to do."

Rei looked away, and Mizuno-sensei moved off to her next patient.

"Minna," Ami called out. The others glanced her way. "It doesn't look like they're here. We'll have to try the other ones." And without so much as a glance back, Ami walked out.

The other girls watched her for a moment, exchanged worried glances, and followed.

Off they went, and while the next shelter was very much like the first, full of weary, dirty people, some sick, some healthy, some injured. There were two doctors here, one of whom was a volunteer from the International Red Cross who had arrived just an hour before the girls did. But none of their families were present, and they did not stay.

At the third shelter – this one the closest to the Saotome home – they had more luck. This one was set up in a subway station, and even as they stepped into the underground, a woman's voice cried out, "USAGI!"

There, only now rising to their feet at the bench about twenty feet away, was Ikuko, Kenji, and Shingo Tsukino.

Even as Usagi ran to her family, crying out their names happily, a woman's voice called out, "Ranma?"

The red-head turned, and for a moment, did not recognize her own mother, bedraggled as she was. Then she saw Genma sitting next to the woman, and everything fell into place. "Mom?" she asked faintly.

"Ranma!" Nodoka was on her feet, ran, and threw her arms around her child.

Ranma felt her heart leap, first in recognizing her mother, and then again in the hug. She was crying. Her mother was crying. The embrace became a blur of tears and happiness, and Nodoka said, over and over, "My son, my son."

Minako and Ami exchanged shocked looks at that, but Rei was too busy watching Usagi's own family reunion to notice.

And Genma? Genma remained where he was, sitting on the bench, smiling proudly. "I knew it would take more than a storm to slow you down, boy," he said.

Ranma grinned widely as her mother led her back to the bench where her father sat. "Right back at 'cha, oyaji," she said. "When I saw the house, I figured mom might have trouble, but you were way too stubborn to die like that."

Genma laughed. "Indeed, boy. Indeed. But as for the house, well, we didn't buy that insurance against acts of God for nothing!"

Ranma stared at Genma incredulously, and when Nodoka nodded a confirming nod, she laughed out loud.

Ranma and Usagi had found their families. Theirs was the joy of the morning; of spring after a long, harsh winter; of the bedridden invalid who awakes suddenly to find himself well, and the day unexpectedly full of promise once more.

Makoto and Rei went over to talk with Usagi's family, and Ami and Minako watched, standing apart from their joyful friends, smiling sadly, and wondered if they would ever find such a reunion.

-----------------

At last, her tears ran their course. Akane still felt like crying, but she quite simply had no more tears: she had used them all up. When her tear ducts had time to make more, she'd cry again, but now... now she had to get out of here. She knew what she was now, but she'd be damned before she'd let some monster like Pharaoh 90 hurt her Ranma.

A wave of self-loathing rose up, threatening to overwhelm her. She had killed her own mother! She was the reason her family had been broken! Why would Ranma want anything to do with a monster like her? She almost sank back down to her knees... But no. She grit her teeth and tried to focus. She needed to be angry. If she were angry, she could stave off this feeling long enough, she hoped, to find Ranma, and at least to warn him and the other Senshi of what was to come.

Anger had always come easily to Akane Tendo, and now that she knew exactly who and what she was, it came easier still. Rage burned within her, and soon, a deadly red aura manifested itself visibly around her.

She turned her attention to the cell's reinforced door.

The Daimon guarding the cell had no chance to call for help: the door exploded outwards with a shriek of tearing metal, flew right off its hinges, and slammed the creature into the wall of the corridor, killing it instantly.

Glowing red, her hair writhing like a hundred serpents, Akane Tendo strode purposefully out of her cell. Alarms were sounding, but she didn't care. Nothing would stop her now.

A door at the far end of the corridor hissed open, and man and a woman stepped through. The woman – Eudial – hefted an esoteric looking weapon.

"Mistress 9," Eudial announced. "This is the Fire Buster MK III, for which I am applying for a patent. If you don't return to your cell..."

Akane sent forth a wave of sheer rage made manifest, and it poured down the corridor like fire; Eudial pulled the trigger.

A blast of magically-enhanced napalm met Akane's attack, and for a moment, their two powers clashed violently. Heat roiled across the hallway, visibly distorting the air as black lightning crackled out from the point at which the attacks had collided. The lights overhead exploded in violent showers of glass.

"You won't stop me, you bitch!" Akane shrieked, her fury doubling in upon itself, feeding her power. Long, thick ropes of her hair surged forward, growing with supernatural speed; Eudial fired again, and the smell of burned hair filled the hallway, but it wasn't enough. For every long rope of hair that the fire buster burned, three more surged forward. A lance of supernaturally-empowered hair wrapped itself around the weapon, wrenched it from Eudial's grip, and flung it out a nearby window.

"NO!" Eudial screamed, reaching for it to no avail.

Professor Tomoe stepped forward. "That's enough," he said, no longer grinning, but glaring at Mistress 9. He produced a tome from under his arm: Kitab al Azif, and as she looked upon it, Akane knew that if she didn't act immediately, she would never escape.

"You know how to stop me? Fine. I know how to stop you, too, Germatoid." She raised her hand, and the black star of the Death Busters appeared on her palm. "DIE!" A pulse of black, crackling energy flew out from her hand, writhing like a mad thing as it flew across the intervening space.

The Professor raised his own hand and began to chant; a semi-translucent barrier snapped into being around him. Akane's attack crashed into it, and for a moment, their power clashed visibly, spectacularly; the walls cratered as cosmic forces did battle.

Akane proved the stronger.

There was a flash, and a roar as of thunder as the barrier collapsed. Akane's attack washed over him, and Professor Tomoe dropped bonelessly to the ground even as Germatoid was expelled violently from his body and smashed into the door that he and Eudial had emerged from.

Akane strode forward, triumphant, knowing that there was nothing these two could do to stop her. Eudial charged her, shrieking in outrage, but Akane simply batted her aside as she might a fly or a gnat.

Eudial struck the wall and slid slowly down it, blood trailing down the wall from the back of her head. She stared blankly.

"I'm leaving," Akane said, "Stay out of my way."

"Do you really think you think you can stand against your Father, Mistress 9?" Germatoid asked weakly.

"My father is Soun Tendo," she snapped, and strode away from the fallen monster.

And she might have gotten away, but in that moment, Pharaoh 90 intervened. She and he were connected, and he, sensing her rebellion, poured his will down through their link in a horrific, brutal psychic assault.

Akane screamed as the power of Pharaoh 90 flooded into her mind. She crouched down, hands on her head as she tried to hold on to something. Anything. Ranma. She loved Ranma. She could hold on to that, couldn't she? Anything to resist this... this assault. But Mistress 9 had not been made to resist her father. Her resistance was like a handful of pebbles dropped before a flood, and she was lost. Her eyes flared a deep, undying red as she rose to her feet. In that moment of contact, her eyes fell upon Eudial: Pharaoh 90's great eye fell upon Eudial.

The Scientist's mind broke instantly, shattering into a thousand pieces. Eudial screamed. She screamed, and screamed, and all trace of sanity left her.

Nearby, Soichi curled up into a ball on the floor and wept, repeating, again and again, "Hotaru-chan, Hotaru-chan... we would have named her... Hotaru-chan, where did you go?"

Germatoid rose to its feet and grinned. "Mistress 9," it intoned, and bowed deeply.

Mistress 9 nodded her head. She glanced at Soichi. "You appear to need a new vessel, Germatoid. How lucky for you that there is one readily available." She gestured at Eudial, who still stared at Mistress 9 with wide, terrified eyes.

Germatoid needed no further urging. It flowed into Eudial, and the red-headed woman's eyes gained a mad kind of focus. She rose to her feet, grinning widely. "The will of Master Pharaoh 90 cannot be stopped!" she said, and began to laugh madly.

The glow fades from Mistress 9's eyes, and their colour had changed: they were purple. "You can laugh later, Germatoid," she snapped, glaring at the other woman. "Come. We prepare for the Master's arrival."

They left the ruined hallway behind them, and Soichi's weeping soon faded into Silence.

END CHAPTER 12


	14. Gathering Dark

The world was lit only by a terrible red light.

Sailor Mars stood in the midst of Tokyo, but it seemed as though the whole world, red-lit as it was, had been turned to stone. Even her friends: Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Venus, Sailor Jupiter: all stone. "The Silence is almost here..." she heard herself say, and the words sent a thrill of terror through her heart.

The Silence.

A hundred black tornados were tearing through Tokyo, rending building, street, flesh, and bone. Men, women, and children shrieked silently as their stone bodies were torn to bits. Fires were burning uncontrolled. Soon, all Mars could see was rubble, save only for herself and her friends.

A light shone from behind her, and she turned towards it.

A girl was standing there, silhouetted against the darkness. Her outline looked like a Sailor Senshi, and she held a glaive before her. As Mars looked at the weapon, the chill of the grave passed over her soul, and she shivered. "Who are you?" she asked.

The figure seemed to see Rei for the first time, and gave a start; she stepped forward, and though she spoke, there was no sound.

**Sorry about this.**

"Wait, Saturn, no!" she yelled. "You can't!"

The figure resolved, no longer a silhouette, but Sailor Saturn in truth. She looked up, and Rei followed her gaze. Above them, a red star shone in the night sky, and even as Rei watched, it grew larger and larger.

... it was **writhing**.

Saturn hefted the Silence Glaive, and a woman stepped out of her shadow – a woman with a black star on her forehead, a cruel smile, and long, long dark hair that fanned out behind her like a cloak.

"My father comes," the woman said, and her voice rang with a mixture of fear and desire.

The star grew larger, descending through the atmosphere. The flames of reentry dissipated, and its horrible mass unfurled in the skies above Minato-ku.

"Saturn, no! PLEASE, you can't destroy the whole world!"

Saturn met Rei's desperate gaze. "Find me another way," she said.

A black tornado swept over Rei; she screamed, and even as she felt her body break apart, Sailor Saturn brought down the Silence Glaive, and the world faded into darkness.

Rei came back to herself with a start. She looked about in panic, but quickly calmed down when she saw that everyone was unharmed. Well, relatively speaking. She was in the subway station, and Usagi and Ranma were both still talking with their parents. Rei watched Ranma uneasily. The vision was getting worse, and she was starting to see it even when she wasn't asleep.

Her previous happiness vanished like summer dew, and in spite of the warmth of the subway station, Rei shuddered.

--------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 13 – Gathering Dark

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

--------------

Ami Mizuno frowned. She wouldn't normally frown in a situation like this – watching a happy family reunion (two of them, actually), but watching Ranma and her parents interact, some things just seemed downright strange to her. Genma and Nodoka Saotome both clearly loved their daughter, but at the same time... why did they call her 'son,' and 'boy?' Why did Akane refer to Ranma as 'he?' Ranma was clearly a girl – if she weren't, there's no way she could have hidden it from the rest of them. And for that matter, she was a Senshi. Ami had done her research: in her searching through the records from the Silver Millennium available to her through the Mercury Computer, she knew that men who bore a planet's Sailor Crystal did not become Sailor Senshi, but ended up in the same position as Tuxedo Kamen. Ranma, by definition, could not be a boy. And yet...

She seemed so masculine.

"Why don't you introduce us to your friends, my son?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma nodded. "Uh, sure!" She gestured towards Ami. "This here's Ami." She pointed at Rei, who looked troubled. "That's Rei." She gestured to each of the other Senshi in turn. "That's Usagi, and I think those are her folks. Uh, that's Makoto, and that's Minako."

Ami bowed. "Mizuno Ami desu. Douzo Yuroshiku," she said politely.

Nodoka smiled warmly. "Douzo Yuroshiku," she replied, and then looked to the other girls (none of whom had noticed that they were being introduced).

"Minna," Ami called, "Come meet Ranma's parents."

The other girls looked up, and introductions were made all around. Usagi's parents joined in, and they and the Saotomes were soon talking amiably.

Ami gave Ranma a thoughtful look. "Ranma-kun," she said, and the others blinked at the suffix. "It's true, isn't it? You really were raised as a boy."

But it was more than that. There was a difference there that Ami couldn't put her finger on. Haruka might cross-dress, but even she didn't feel like this.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. I know I might be a girl now, but..." she trailed off.

Might be a girl _now?_ That was a very strange choice of words. While the other Senshi might not have caught such a thing, Ami did, and it brought with it further questions. "It's more than just that you were raised as a boy, isn't it?"

The others looked at Ami, confused. "Ami-chan?" Usagi asked uncertainly.

Ranma grew nervous, and put a hand on the base of where her pigtail would have been if she'd been wearing her hair in one. "Uh, nope? Why would there be anything more to it than that? I'm obviously a girl, right? Always have been."

She was lying. Ami could tell as clear as day. And yet... it seemed so absurd. Yet... Ami considered it from Ranma's point of view. If she herself had been born a boy and somehow been transformed into a girl, she'd probably want to put the whole thing behind her, too – if she ever managed to get over it at all. Compassion welled up in her. "I'm sorry, Ranma-kun. I shouldn't pry, but, you're coping far better than I would in your place."

Ranma's eyes widened, and she stared at Ami, finally understanding exactly what she meant. After a moment, Ranma nodded. "Thanks," she said, and meant it.

Ami smiled.

--------------------

Meanwhile, in the Death Buster nest in Mugen Gakuen, Mistress 9 stood before a vast statue depicting a winged, robed figure bearing the Silence Glaive in its hand: the Messiah of Silence. She looked up at it and frowned slightly.

The statue stood off to the side in the room she occupied: a vast summoning chamber, inscribed with esoteric runes and patterns in a concentric spiral at the center of which was the black star of the Death Busters.

The door opened, and Eudial strode in, a pure heart crystal in hand. Even as the red-headed woman approached, Mistress 9 held out her hand; the heart crystal flew across the room and came to rest in that same hand.

Mistress 9 swallowed it. "Mmmmm," she moaned, savoring the taste of the crystal heart as it dissolved, its power flowing out into hers, adding to her own. The pleasure of it was nearly orgasmic. Her hair and flesh both writhed in response, and she thought of Ranma. "Wow. I forgot what that was like," she said, her cheeks flushed. She felt briefly guilty for having such a 'perverted' reaction, but she quickly suppressed the feeling.

"The Heart Crystal is to your liking, then, Mistress 9?" Eudial asked.

Mistress 9 nodded. "It's fine." A pause. "Eudial, this statue doesn't look like her."

Eudial looked up at the vast, winged statue, then at Mistress 9. "Perhaps a little remodeling is in order?" she asked.

"Maybe," Mistress 9 said. Another pause. "I've been thinking about it for a while. If I know Ranma, she's not going to give up. She could be a problem."

"Oh?"

"I think we're going to need some... assistance, against her. Until she can be convinced to take her rightful place with me."

"We have all the Daimons we could possibly need," Eudial said, raising an eyebrow.

Mistress 9 shook her head. "Daimons won't do it. We need someone who can fight Ranma on his own level." His own level? The thought filtered across the back of her mind and then vanished.

Eudial laughed madly. "I suppose you have someone in mind?" she asked.

Mistress 9 grinned.

--------------------

It was about three in the afternoon, but the day wasn't terribly warm. It was too late in the year for that. It was autumn, and the world was winding down. Soon, the long, cold winter would fall, and who can say if spring would come again afterwards?

The subway station was only a few degrees warmer than the outside air, crowded, and smelled strongly of unwashed human beings. Several hours had passed since the girls had first arrived at the subway station. There within, Nodoka and Genma stood near the entrance, facing Ranma. The other girls were close at hand, watching the parting.

"My son," Nodoka said, "We've talked about it, your father and I have decided that we're going to go to Nerima and stay with the Tendos until things calm down."

Ranma blinked. "Er..." she said intelligently.

Nodoka smiled indulgently. "Of course, you don't have to come if you don't want to. You have friends here, after all." Her expression grew more serious. "And I expect you to rescue Akane-chan."

Ranma nodded, determination in her eyes. "I will."

Usagi stepped next to Ranma and met the red-head's gaze. "We will," she said.

Ranma nodded. "We will," she echoed.

Genma looked irritated, but Nodoka smiled. "I'm glad you have friends you can count on, my son," she said. "But your father and I really must be going if we're to reach Nerima before nightfall."

Nodoka seemed troubled for a moment. Then she embraced her neo-daughter. "My son, I fear you will be tested in the days ahead as you never have been before. Be strong." She released Ranma and stepped back.

An uncomfortable look crossed Genma's face, and he smiled very faintly. "Make me proud, boy," he said, and nothing else.

As one, they turned and departed.

Ranma stood rooted in place, staring after them. "Mom. Oyaji," she whispered. For a moment, she felt horribly, terribly alone. Then the other girls moved up around her, and she knew where she belonged.

They stood like that for a minute before Ami asked, "Ranma-kun, are you all right?"

Ranma nodded slowly, and looked around at the other girls. Her friends. "... I will be."

About that time, a strange procession came into view, making its way down the stairs into the underground. There were about a dozen men and women all in pale robes. They walked in pairs, one man and one woman each, and each pair carrying a box between them.

Ranma and the other girls moved to get out of their way, and ended up next to Usagi's parents.

"Who are they?" Makoto whispered, eyeing the group suspiciously.

The procession made its way down the stairs and into the subway, where they were greeted by the man in charge of the shelter. They began to talk.

Ikuko spoke up, having overheard Makoto's question. "They're priests," she said. She used the English word, and not the Japanese one.

The eyes of each of the girls went to Usagi's mother. "Priests?" Usagi asked.

"They're a part of a foreign church called..." Ikuko thought for a moment, trying to remember the name. "The Esoteric Order of Dagon." She smiled. "They've been very kind, opening their doors and providing food, water and clothing for us."

"Oh, we're in for a treat today, everyone!" The man in charge of the shelter announced. "As a gesture of good will, the Order of Dagon has brought us a rare, rare delicacy. I'm sure we'll all enjoy our first taste of Mermaid's flesh!"

A murmur went through the crowd at that. There were legends about Mermaid's flesh. Supposedly, it had the power to confer immortality upon those who partook of it. Nobody believed that, of course, and most of those present didn't believe that it really was mermaid's flesh, but they appreciated the gesture.

Usagi exchanged uneasy glances with her friends. "I... I don't think we should eat that, minna," she said.

Ranma nodded in agreement, though her grumbling stomach voiced an objection of its own.

"Don't be ridiculous, girls," Ikuko said, moving towards where they were even now beginning distribution of the food. "I'm sure it's perfectly safe."

"Wait," Usagi said, but Kenji and Shingo moved to join Ikuko in the line. She looked at the boxes full of food and frowned deeply. She got a really bad feeling when she saw the ... fish? Whatever it was. Something clearly was not right here, and yet... and yet... She shook her head.

All too soon, the food had been distributed to everyone present, and they all sat down to eat, occasionally voicing thanks for the kindness of the Church of Dagon. A few minutes later, Ikuko, Kenji, and Shingo came back over to Ranma and the others and sat down.

"My, that was good," Ikuko said, and Kenji and Shingo were quick to voice their agreement. She looked at Usagi. "You missed out, Usagi."

Usagi opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment, about a dozen yards away, a man stood up, clutching at his stomach. "Ugh..." he said, grimacing, and held up his hand.

The flesh of his hand visibly bulged before his very eyes.

The man began to scream, and soon, the screams of others joined him: the transformations had begun.

Ikuko fell to her knees.

"Mama?" Usagi asked.

"Usagi..." Ikuko said, tears in her eyes. Her flesh rippled and bulged grotesquely. "It hurts...!"

The shelter erupted in sheer pandemonium. Some simply fell over and died, but most of them **changed**. Shiny, slippery, green-tinged skin quickly replaced whatever natural skin colours the people might have had.

"Mama!" Usagi yelled, gathering her mother up into her embrace. She could feel her mother's body shifting, changing against her, and those same changes were reflected in the crowd around them. She let her mother sink to the concrete floor, stood up, and turned to face the priests of Dagon. "Whatever you did, stop it!" she yelled.

The twelve priests of Dagon cast off their hoods, and Usagi nearly wretched at the sight of their leader: in the place of hair, a thousand awful, grasping, mouthed tendrils grew out of his head. His forehead was strangely narrow, his nose, flat, and his eyes bulged fishlike, never blinking. The others shared similar features, some more normal looking than others, but all marked by a subtle inhumanity. "You should have eaten with the others, girls," the high priest intoned. "If you'd survived the transformation, you could have lived on as our servants. But now, I'm afraid we'll just have to get rid of you. You understand, I'm sure. Can't have you telling the other shelters about this." He grinned. "Not that they'd believe you. But some might. Enough to cause trouble."

"Kusoyaro!" Ranma hissed, rising to her feet, her aura manifesting itself visibly around her.

"Minna!" Usagi yelled. "Transform!"

Each of the Senshi produced their respective transformation device.

"Moon Cosmic Power!"

"Mercury Star Power!"

"Mars Crystal Power!" – Ami and Usagi were both visibly startled by the altered transformation phrase.

"Jupiter Crystal Power!"

"Venus Crystal Power!"

Ami and Usagi recovered from their startlement, and then, all at once: "MAKE UP!"

Light flooded the subway station as, in a wash of fire, ice, wood, metal, and purity, the Sailor Senshi transformed.

"Government shelters are for the protection of the citizens, not for..." Sailor Moon trailed off. While the others had waited for her to make her speech, Ranma had not. Half of the priests were already unconscious, with the other half trying in vain to avoid the red-head's strikes. Clearly, whatever these priests were, they weren't fighters. Frantically, the High Priest had not been expected armed resistance of this sort. Even as the last of the other priests fell to the ground, unconscious, the High Priest uttered a word of power and stepped through the far wall of the shelter, his body vanishing into the concrete.

Sailor Moon sweatdropped.

But it wasn't over. The humans in whom that dire transformation had begun were no longer recognizable as such. Now utterly changed, their forms suggested anthropoids, but with vaguely fish-like heads with prodigious, bulging eyes that never closed, and palpating gills on the side of its neck, they were clearly only distantly related to humanity now, if at all. Green-gray, shiny, slippery skin glistened beneath the artificial lights of the subway station.

The transformed mass went wild, pouring out of the subway station and into the streets, slime dripping from their jaws, howling wildly as they ran.

"MAMA!" Sailor Moon yelled, and tackled the creature to whom the remnants of her mother's clothing still clung. "Minna, don't let them get away!"

Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus dashed to position themselves between the remaining monsters and the exit, and the beasts roared their defiance at the Senshi.

"Sailor Moon? What now?" Mars asked.

Moon rose to her feet, and the creature that had once been her mother snarled, pivoted, and rammed its terrible clawed hands into Moon's stomach.

"Sailor Moon!" the others yelled.

Blood leaked through the newly created holes in her fuku onto the monster's claws. Moon stared into the creature's eyes, and there within, saw no trace of her mother. "Mama," she said desperately. "I'll save you!"

And then Ranma was there, beating the creature down in a whirl of kicks and punches. It proved surprisingly resilient: it roared, and slashed at Ranma with its powerful claws.

Powerful the creature might have been. Strong it might have been. But for a martial artist of Ranma's caliber, it might as well have been moving underwater. She evaded the punch with ease, grabbed the creature's arm, and using its own momentum against it, flung it bodily into the far wall.

Usagi took a step forward, bleeding badly but not caring. Her power flared around her in an intense aura of pink energy. There were perhaps twenty of the monsters still inside the shelter, with many times that number having escaped. She held out her hand. "Moon healing... escalation!" she yelled.

Nothing.

"Moon healing escalation!" There was a note of desperation in her voice.

Somewhere in the arctic, the crescent moon wand glowed fitfully.

"Usagi-chan..." Mars whispered. The gem on her tiara began to glow. One by one, the other Senshi's gems began to glow.

Usagi's pink aura coalesced around her hand. "Moon healing..." energy crackled around her, and all at once, the crescent moon wand appeared in her hands. The Ginzuishou wasn't fitted on it anymore, but there it was nonetheless. "ESCALATION!"

Buoyed up by the power of the other Senshi, the healing magic surged forth across the Lost Souls, bit by bit, undoing the spell that had transformed them with backwards mutterings of dissevering power. The glow of power faded, and there they were, human, naked, lying there unconscious on the concrete floor of the subway station, with Shingo, Kenji, and Ikuko among them. Not just the creatures, but the priests too – in the wake of Usagi's healing magic, their features no longer held the Innsmouth look, but seemed... normal.

"Thank God," Sailor Moon whispered, and fell flat on her face, blood leaking from her uniform.

"Sailor Moon!" the others yelled as one, rushing to her side.

Ranma knelt down by Sailor Moon's side.

Oh, hell. That was a bad injury. That kind of belly wound was usually fatal. But... but hadn't Usagi just shown that it was possible to reverse that sort of thing? Did she deserve to die for that?

No. Usagi wasn't going to die. Ranma wouldn't let her: he had his heart set on it now, and Ranma Saotome never loses when it counts. Acting more on instinct than any kind of definite knowledge and guided by dim dream-memories of another life, Ranma placed her hands on the wounds and began to concentrate, willing them, somehow, to heal. She felt power begin to flow out from her, and a soft, purple light filled the room.

Before her very eyes, Usagi's injuries began to heal, each of the punctures undergoing in seconds what should have taken weeks or even months. Soon, there was no sign that she had ever been injured at all, save only for the blood and the finger-sized holes in her fuku.

The other Senshi stared at Ranma in amazement.

"Ranma-chan," Usagi said, her voice full of wonder.

Ranma blushed.

----------------------

"Where on earth am I now?"

Ryouga wasn't sure, but wherever it was, things were bad here. Whatever city it was, it was in ruins. Devastation lay about him as far as the eye could see: some buildings still stood, but most were smashed beyond recognition. Off in the distance, he could see a vast swath of ice that stretched away into the horizon.

Whatever had happened here, he was sure that it was probably Ranma's fault.

Still, he couldn't go pound Ranma into the dust for whatever had happened just now: he needed to get back. Akari was waiting for him, after all, and when there's a pretty girl waiting for you at home, the desire to get there tends to be much more pressing.

He knew that Akane was missing in the wake of the storm. She'd been in Minato when it had hit, and her parents were getting frantic. Indeed, that had been the reason for this journey – to try to find her, and if she needed rescuing, to rescue her. But now, at last, he was heading back home. At least temporarily, before he set out again. To be honest, he hadn't really expected to find her. He'd more expected to find Ranma, and then for Ranma to find her.

He certainly hadn't expected to round a corner and find her in her Furinkan high school uniform in the middle of the street, holding a bento.

"A... Akane-san?" he asked, totally surprised.

She turned towards him, smiling sadly. She looked like she'd been crying. "Ryouga-kun?"

"Akane-san, what are you doing here? Where's Ranma?" Ryouga grew angry. "If that coward left you out here..." he punched a fist into the palm of his hand.

Akane ran to him and threw her arms around him.

Ryouga stared in shock. "A... Akane-san..."

"Oh Ryouga-kun, it was so horrible!" she began to cry.

"What happened, Akane-san?" he asked, gently returning her embrace.

"It was Ranma," she said, her voice a near whisper.

Ever willing to believe the worst of his friend, Ryouga's blood began to boil. "Ranma... damn you!" He stepped back and looked Akane in the eye. "What did she do, Akane? What did that miserable pervert do this time?"

Akane stared at the ground. "She... she..." She grew more distraught, crying so hard now that she couldn't even complete her sentence.

Rage burned within Ryouga's heart. Ranma would PAY for this. But first, he had to make sure Akane was safe. "Akane-san, do you have anywhere where you're staying? Somewhere I could make sure you get back to?"

Ryouga didn't notice the ever so faint victorious smile that graced Akane's lips.

"Yes... yes..." she looked up at him, eyes full of tears. "I'm staying at Mugen Gakuen. It's... safe. Do you think you could take me there, Ryouga-kun?"

Ryouga nodded. "Of course I can," he said. He turned and began to walk westwards. "Follow me, Akane-san!"

"Ryouga," Akane said, sounding irritated.

"Hmm?"

"Mugen Gakuen is this way." She pointed east.

"I knew that."

Akane grimaced. This had better be worth it, damn it. An hour later, somewhere near Hokkaido, Akane began to grind her teeth. An hour after that, her patience finally snapped. "GIVE ME YOUR PURE HEART CRYSTAL ALREADY!" she shouted.

Ryouga blinked. "What?"

Akane blushed. "Uh, what I mean is..." She sighed. "Oh forget it." She chanted a few words in Latin; even as she spoke them, they appeared writ in black script floating around her. Finally, the power of the spell gathered, she pointed at Ryouga and spoke a single word: "Sleep."

Instantly, he collapsed, sound asleep.

Grimacing, Akane picked up the Lost Boy, slung him over her shoulder, and teleported back to Mugen Gakuen.

This had BETTER be worth it.

----------------

Mercury dismissed her visor and shook her head sadly. "There are already almost a thousand of the dark power signatures that correspond to these... creatures, scattered across the ward. This wasn't the first shelter they infected. And we have no idea how many more teams there might be..."

Ranma clenched her fist. "We gotta stop 'em from doing it ta anyone else," she said determinedly.

"I agree, but I don't know that we can do much if this is as large a scale operation as I suspect it is. They're... they must be planning to use these transformed people as shock troops. They're making an army. Individually, these creatures are no match for any one of us, but en masse..." Mercury shook her head.

Venus spoke up. "We have to at least stop them from infecting the other two shelters here." She looked at each of the Senshi. "Sailor Moon, I think we should split up into groups of two. I'll go with Mercury to the shelter at the Crown Game Center. Jupiter and Mars can go to the other one."

"What about me?" Sailor Moon asked.

Venus glanced at Sailor Moon's family, who, though they had not yet regained consciousness, had at least been covered in blankets.

Moon looked at Kenji, Ikuko, and Shingo. "Right," she said. "I'll make sure none of those monsters come back here. Ranma can stay with me. Right, Ranma-chan?"

Ranma rolled her eyes.

"Anyways," Venus said, "Let's go."

The others nodded, and they dashed up the stairs, and out of the subway station, leaving Ranma and Sailor Moon in the subway with the group of still unconscious, recovering victims.

--------------

The choices we make. The chances we take. Mistress 9 had taken many chances in going outside of her sanctum to retrieve Ryouga, but if all went according to plan, he could prove very useful to her before the end. She lowered him easily to the floor of the summoning chamber, placing his body directly over the black star of the Death Busters in the center of the chamber. Outside, night was falling; there was no moon.

Choices made, chances taken. Yes, this would do nicely. And besides that, it was time to start taking concrete steps towards the summoning of her father.

Even as she thought of it, a thrill of fear/desire shot through her. Yes, it would work. And then, when all the world was laid out at her feet, Ranma would come, and take her rightful place at her side.

"Eudial," Mistress 9 said, glancing sidelong at the red-headed scientist.

"Mmm?"

"Now."

Eudial threw a large switch on the far side of the room. Deep underground, vast engines began to churn, building a combined charge of electricity and dark magics. A deadly purple glow began at the outer edge of the spiral, and slowly, began to flow inwards. The symbols around the spiral lit up as the light passed them, shining with eldritch power.

Ryouga stirred, shook his head, and sat up. "Where on earth am I now?" he asked. Then he took in his surroundings, and his eyes widened. "Akane-san! What's going on?"

Mistress 9 turned towards Ryouga, and her hair writhed in the air behind her. "I need your help, Ryouga-kun," she said, her voice saccharine-sweet. "You don't mind, do you?"

Ryouga tried to move, only to find himself held securely in place by an unseen force. "Akane-san, what's happened to you?" he asked disbelievingly.

"I woke up, Ryouga," she said, watching as the energy spiraled towards the Lost Boy. "I'm not a shy, sweet, helpless little girl anymore. I'm my father's daughter, now. And soon, you'll be a brother to me. Think about it, Ryouga. We'll be family. Wouldn't you like that?"

Ryouga grit his teeth, and the sickly green of his depression aura took shape around him. "Damn you, Ranma," he hissed. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" The aura surged wildly. "SHI SHI HOKOUDAN!"

The blast of green-tinged heavy ki splashed against the barrier that held him in place. The barrier distorted visibly as his power clashed against it, but soon, all too soon, it recovered from the blow.

"How many more times can you do that before it reaches you, I wonder?" Mistress 9 asked.

As it turned out, he could do it three more times. Three blasts. Three near-successes. But each time, the barrier recovered just before it might have collapsed.

And then, as his despair grew, just as the deadly purple light was nearly upon him, he shouted, "PERFECT SHI-SHI HOKOU..." he cut off in mid sentence, and his shout became a scream of agony. The portal between worlds was opened, for a split second, and the will of a vast, incomprehensible OTHER was focused upon his frame.

A distortion appeared in the air above him, beyond which could be seen a horrible, writhing, globular mass. A Daimon egg descended through the portal, and sinking with interminable slowness, settled upon Ryouga's brow, and burst open in a splash of pink goo.

Though Ryouga tried to struggle, the will of Pharaoh 90 held him fixed in place. The unformed Daimon mass poured down his throat, and he screamed.

Eudial laughed madly, her grin threatening to split her face in twain, and Mistress 9 drank in Ryouga's despair like a fine wine. At last, Mistress 9 turned, and both flesh and hair writhed and shifted as she gathered her power. The great statue of the Messiah of Silence began to glow, and she spoke:

"Come to me, students of Mugen Gakuen. The time is come. Your master is calling. Your purpose is at hand! Come!"

And all across the city, the students of Mugen Gakuen heard the call, dropped what they were doing, and began walking towards the school. Children and teenagers alike flowed into the streets, hundreds strong, each of them moving inexorably towards the Infinity Academy, none of them able to resist the power that called them now. Even those that had been changed – even those whose forms were no longer human could not disobey. Like the children of Hamelin, they went.

Across the ward, Haruka and Michiru both looked up in surprise. They were in the midst of unpacking in their new home when the call washed over their minds, and though their status as Senshi protected them from the compulsion, they felt it and knew what it wanted from them nonetheless.

"Did you feel it?" Michiru asked.

"The Death Busters are making their move," Haruka said.

"And you intend to stop them?" Setsuna asked, stepping into the room.

To their credit, the Outer duo only jumped a little bit at the sudden unexpected voice. Once they had recovered from their startlement, they nodded as one.

"Yes."

"How?"

Haruka grimaced. "We can at least gather information. Find out what they're doing. Come up with a plan."

Setsuna nodded, and looked both women in the eye in turn. "Be careful, Haruka. Michiru. This is a delicate time. One misstep here could spell disaster. Don't do anything rash. Watch. Gather information. Then come back, and we can plan our next move."

Michiru nodded, and after a moment, Haruka did too.

And in the subway station, Ranma, sitting next to a finally conscious Ikuko Tsukino, did not hear the call. For her, the message was something quite different:

_"Ranma... help me..." _

The voice was faint, but it was clearly Akane's. Ranma looked up, but there was no sign of the girl. She let her senses expand, flowing out across her immediate surroundings.

No trace. Not even the faintest glimmering of Akane's ki.

Had she imagined it?

_"Ranma, please... help me..." _

This time, an image came along with the plea: Mugen Gakuen, silhouetted against the night sky. Ranma rose to her feet.

"Ranma-chan?" Usagi asked. "What's wrong?"

"It's Akane," Ranma said. "Usagi, she needs my help. I have to go to her."

"Wait! We'll call the others. Go as a group. You shouldn't go alone!"

"There's no time!" Ranma said fiercely. "She's calling for me. Sorry, Usagi, but I gotta go ta her. Now." She turned and dashed away. Even as she went, the uniform of Sailor Saturn flowed out over her, unveiling her, giving her strength.

"Usagi?" Ikuko asked questioningly. "Your friend is one of the Sailor Senshi?"

Usagi rose to her feet. "Ranma, wait! We can help you! We can call back Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury and all go in together!" She looked down at Ikuko. "Mom, I..."

It was too late. Ranma was gone.

A hundred casual comments. All the times she'd found her daughter's room empty late at night. The occasional unexplained bruise or cut. A hundred missed clues suddenly clicked into place within her mind. Ikuko met Usagi's gaze levelly. "You have some explaining to do, young lady," she said.

END CHAPTER 13


	15. Scylla and Charybdis

"I'm Sailor Moon," Usagi said simply, looking her mother right in the eye.

Ikuko stared at Usagi for a long moment, allowing all the remaining pieces to fall into place. It made sense. It explained just about everything, actually. Usagi's lack of involvement in the home life, the late nights, the way that Luna seemed almost too smart for a cat, everything. "I see," she said.

Silence hung between them. Ten seconds stretched on into thirty, thirty seconds became a minute, and a minute became two before Usagi finally spoke up again. "Say something, mom."

Ikuko's eyes flashed angrily. "What do you want me to say? That my own daughter has been lying to me for, what, two and a half years? That you've been running around the city, putting yourself in mortal danger with no concern for your family and how we might feel if something were to happen to you?"

Usagi felt the blood drain from her face. "No! That's not it!"

"Then what is it, Usagi?"

"I'm Sailor Moon. I right wrongs, and triumph over evil! We help people, and we make the world safer!"

"That's a load of nonsense," Ikuko said dismissively, and Usagi flinched to hear it. "You might think of it as some sort of game for school girls, but this is serious! You could die! All of you could die, and we wouldn't even have known it before now! You'd just vanish. We'd look for you and never find you, and there'd be nothing we could do. We'd never know what happened to you!"

Now in a state of near panic, Usagi went for broke: "But Moooom, I'm a reincarnated Moon Princess and it's my destiny!" she wailed.

Ikuko was less than impressed.

--------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 14 – Scylla and Charybdis

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

Warning: Lime

--------------

The glow around the great statue of the Messiah of Silence intensified until it shone with a deadly purple light. They were here. They were here! Students poured into Mugen Gakuen, moving as if in a trance with no distinction between those that were still human and those that had been transformed by the mermaid's flesh. The brackish reek of the transformed filled the lobby, and still they came, moving, flopping, crawling, climbing up the stairs, filling the building as best they could.

Within twenty minutes, most of the students had sorted themselves out into their classrooms and sat at their desks, vacant eyed and staring. Those that didn't make it as far as the classrooms milled about in the lobby, waiting. Waiting for the moment they had been prepared for so carefully.

Waiting to die.

Her long hair rippling around her with a life of its own, Mistress 9 strode up to the statue and raised her hands up high. For a brief moment, she looked guilty. She hesitated. She looked away. The moment passed. "Now. It is time." A ball of dark power began to collect between her open palms, and a sense of anticipation grew thick in the chamber. "The preparations are complete. Eudial!"

Across the chamber, Eudial laughed madly. "Let the harvest begin!" she cried melodramatically. "Give us your pure heart crystals, students of the Infinity Academy!" An unnatural wind rippled around her; her hair flowed impressively, and her glasses gleamed brightly in the darkness. She threw another huge switch – one of many – and yet once more, deep underground, vast engines began to churn, building up their combined charge of electricity and dark magics.

Mistress 9 placed her globe of darkness in the air before the statue, and it hung there in space for just a moment before flowing into the stone skin of the statue itself. Energy pulsed around it, and with a terrible crack, the power was unleashed: the harvest had begun. Heart crystals poured out of the students of Mugen Gakuen, flowing up through the ceiling and into the air above the summoning circle.

"It's working!" Eudial cried, and continued to laugh.

Mistress 9 looked annoyed, but said nothing.

They collected on the ceiling of the summoning chamber, forming constellations of crystallized pure hearts there in the darkness. And one by one, the students who had lost their pure heart crystals began to die. First one, then another, another, and another.

Suzuhara, the viola player, who had dedicated almost her entire life to the pursuit of musical excellence. Dead.

Kotori Monou, the delicate, flighty blonde with long hair and expressive eyes, a talented cellist, and doted on by her loving brother. Dead.

Gendo Rokubungi sat in the music room, staring around him in shock as his classmates died all around him. He was one of the lucky ones: those few who had not been successfully conditioned by the school to produce a pure heart crystal. There were others like him, but they were few and far between.

Ikari Yui, a talented young student from the school's science department, burst into the room a moment later. "Gendo?" she asked, and her voice was filled with terror. "What's happening?"

He looked up, and as the heart crystals of his classmates swirled up through the ceiling, his eyes burned with the fervor of one newly converted. "Do you see it?" he asked. "Do you see it?"

"See what?"

"It's here! This is how it begins!"

Yui shook her head. "I don't understand... Gendo, everyone's dying! We have to get out of here!"

That brought him back to his senses. He nodded determinedly and took her hand. Together, they ran: ran for all they were worth.

All around them, their classmates died.

Outside, Sailor Saturn strode calmly up the steps, sensing the vast magics at work within, but also, finally, sensing Akane's presence. Akane was somewhere in that building, and as Saturn walked through the doors, she knew that she would not leave without her.

A bit further back, Uranus and Neptune stood before a fountain in the courtyard, watching the Senshi of Ruin as she went into the nest of the Deathbusters.

Observe. Stay out of sight. Gather information. Report back to Pluto.

It sounded simple enough.

-------------------

"Damnit, they can't get away with this!" Jupiter screamed, and smashed her fist into the wall. The concrete gave way before her fist, leaving a sizeable dent in its wake.

She and Mars stood in one of the shelters that they had visited earlier, and dead bodies littered the floor. Some looked half eaten, others were missing limbs, still others were torn into so much scrap. An awful, rotting saltwater smell rose up powerfully all around them. They were too late: the Esoteric Order of Dagon had already been here. Close at hand, the Red Cross doctor lay dead.

Mars's eyes hardened at the sight, and she turned to Jupiter. "Let's just get to the next Shelter," she said, though there wasn't much hope in her voice.

Jupiter was only glad that Usagi wasn't here to see this... slaughter.

----------------

"Have you tried not being Sailor Moon?" Ikuko asked.

Usagi gave her a look. Had her mom **really** just asked that? She thought about it for a moment. "Yes," she said. "I've tried not being Sailor Moon." She thought of all of her wishes for a normal life. How she had even made that wish a reality with the Ginzuishou after Queen Beryl's defeat.

"Then why can't you stop?" Ikuko asked, her voice choked with emotion. "If you've done it before, then can't you just put aside Sailor Moon and be my Usagi again?"

Usagi said nothing.

"Is this what drove you and Naru apart?" Ikuko asked.

Usagi flinched.

"You used to be such good friends. She was over all the time, and you went to visit her home just as often. Then it happened less and less often, and now I never see Naru around anymore. Usagi-chan, we're your family! I don't want that to happen to us. Just stop. Please."

Nearby, Shingo stirred for a moment, and then settled back down into sleep.

"If half of the stories I've heard about the Sailor Senshi are true, then you're putting yourself in danger almost every day! If you had been hurt – Kami-sama forbid, if you had been killed – before today, we never would have known about it!" She was repeating herself, but she clearly didn't care. "You would have just disappeared one day, and your father and I, and Shingo, we'd look for you, and we'd never find you, because whatever body they found, it would be Sailor Moon, not Tsukino Usagi. How could you put us through that? Usagi, if you love me, you'll stop. Stop putting yourself in danger. Stop being Sailor Moon. Just be Usagi."

"I can't!" Usagi whispered fiercely.

"Why not?" Ikuko all but shouted.

For a thousand reasons. Because it was her destiny. Because when she became Sailor Moon, it didn't feel like she was becoming someone else: it felt like she was becoming herself. Because if she didn't fight for love and justice, if she didn't work to protect people, who would? Because... "Because!"

Ikuko was not impressed.

Emotion stirred within her. She knew what she needed to say. Usagi's eyes burned with passionate intensity, and she met her mother's gaze. "Because I've found a better way of living my life, mom! Because I can't just give up. I can't just let things happen. My friends and I – together - we make a stand; we say no. We do what's right when everyone else just runs away! I can't go back to the way it was before; I've found a better way. Love and justice! Those are more than just words."

Ikuko smiled sadly, her anger fading. "You sound like me when I was your age," she said.

Usagi felt her heart lifting. Her mother had been like her?

Ikuko reached out and brushed her daughter's cheek fondly. "You can't save the world with idealism, Usagi-chan." She let her hand drop back to her side. "Believe me, I wish you could, but it's not the way the world works. You know what happens when people stand up for their principles? When people do what's right when everyone else just runs away?" Silence hung between them for a beat. "They're fired. They're killed. They're destroyed."

Usagi felt her heart sink.

"The world is cruel, and we are so small." Ikuko was in tears now. "I learned that lesson the hard way, Usagi-chan. I don't want you to have to do the same. Just, just stop."

"But that's not the way things have to be!" Usagi replied. "We can change it. All of us. If we all get together, we'll find a way."

A single tear trailed down the side of Ikuko's face. "I don't want you to die," she whispered thickly.

"I won't die," Usagi said gently. She rose to her feet. "If we all get together, it won't matter how cruel the world is, or what evil people want to do to people who stand up for what's right. I'll show you." She grasped her broach and held it up. "MOON COSMIC POWER! MAKE UP!"

Light erupted around her as the veil was torn off. Bathed in power, before her mother's astonished eyes, Usagi transformed, her mortal disguise vanishing before the truth of her nature.

Ikuko stared.

"This is who I am, mother," Sailor Moon said gently. "I can't give it up, not now, not ever." She looked down at her unconscious father and brother. "But I can take you somewhere safe."

-----------------

As she and Sailor Venus raced to the Crown Game Center, Mercury's only thoughts were of her mother. Her mother who had been so cold to her. Her mother who even now could be transforming into one of those, those things. Ami had always had a good relationship with her mother: it was what made this sudden coldness so puzzling, so dismaying. The thought of her mother turning into one of those things, though, that was more than she could bear. Now moving at a dead run, she rounded the corner and caught a glimpse of the building there down the block.

It had not been repaired: the windows were gone, the glass doors long since shattered, and the gaming machines were pushed up against the far wall. The main room was full of those same dirty, tired people, and the steel door yet lay open to the main shelter beneath the Crown Game Center. They had to stop them. Had to prevent the Esoteric Order of Dagon from converting them. Had to...

Mercury raced through the doors just in time to see her mother lifting a piece of what looked like sushi to her mouth. Behind her, Venus called out, "Wait, Mercury! We don't know what we're going into!"

"Mother, no!" Mercury yelled, dashing towards Mizuno-sensei.

Too late. Doctor Mizuno swallowed the bit of fish, blinked, and looked up. "'Mother'?" she asked, staring at Mercury. "Why did you..."

It was then that Sailor Mercury noticed the bento sitting on the desk in front of her mother: the bento with five more pieces of sushi sitting in it. Pieces of unagi.

Mercury's face turned red.

Her mother was still staring at her, she realized a moment later: staring at her, with a hazy sort of recognition in her eyes as her intellect warred with the glamour that prevented the Senshi from being recognized in their human forms. "Do I... know you?" Mizuno-sensei asked.

Mercury and Venus exchanged glances, and then Mercury breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God," she whispered. Still, even if the Order hadn't been here yet, that didn't mean they weren't on their way. "Mizuno-sensei," she said as calmly as she could manage, "there are men on their way here. Men from the Esoteric Order of Dagon."

Doctor Mizuno blinked at that. "The Esoteric Order of Dagon? But they've been the greatest help of anyone to us. They've brought food, blankets, clothing."

Venus broke in then. "They're not what they seem, Mizuno-sensei. They're killing people."

Mercury nodded. "They've gone from shelter to shelter, first building trust and then, once people are willing to accept whatever they give them, giving out tainted food. People are being transformed, Mizuno-sensei."

"Transformed? What sort of nonsense are you talking?" Doctor Mizuno rose to her feet. "I know you Sailor Senshi deal with the weirder side of life. I've seen it on the news. Monster attacks, UFOs, that sort of thing. But people can't just be 'transformed' by tainted food."

"I wish that were true, Mizuno-sensei," Mercury said. "But we've only just come from the shelter at the Azabu Juuban Underground. Almost everyone there is either dead or transformed. When they arrive here, we can't let them in. Don't let anyone take any food from them. In fact, it would be better if everyone were to go down into the shelter for the time being. We'll have to leave here afterwards, but right now, the shelter is the safest place available. Or are you willing to risk the lives of everyone in this building over a bag lunch?"

Doctor Mizuno looked at Mercury for a long moment. "... Ami?" she asked.

Surprise rose up in Mercury, and she stared at her mother in shock. After a moment, she nodded. "It's me, mother."

Doctor Mizuno stared. Then, after another long moment, she nodded slowly. "All right." She glanced towards the wide open entrance, then at the various people around her. "I'll tell them. Meanwhile, the two of you can figure out what you're going to tell the Dagonites when they arrive. But when this is over, you and I are going to have a long talk."

Doctor Mizuno walked towards the crowd of refugees.

Mercury breathed a sigh of relief. That could have gone much worse than it did. It struck Sailor Mercury then. That's what they were: refugees. The Minato Ward had become a Ward full of refugees, displaced by the conflict between warring factions that they knew nothing about. The Deathbusters. The Dagonites. After a moment, Mercury added the Sailor Senshi to the list as well: they might not be a destructive faction, but they were definitely a part of it.

Even as Doctor Mizuno ushered the refugees through the steel door and into the shelter proper, Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter arrived through the front entrance.

"The other shelter?" Venus asked.

Sailor Jupiter clenched her fist and looked angry. Mars shook her head sadly.

"Chikishou," Venus whispered.

"They haven't been here yet," Mercury said. "Whatever else happens today, we can at least make sure that these people are safe."

The other girls nodded as one.

Venus glanced about. "We know they're coming. We don't know when they'll get here. Any ideas, minna?"

At Venus's prompting, Mercury spoke up. "Let's think about this. We've got an open space, several dozen gaming machines, multiple entrances and exits, and an ice cream parlor upstairs. Whatever preparations we make have to be the kind we can abandon at a moment's notice, since we don't know when the Dagonites will get here, and we don't want to be at a disadvantage when they do. How can we use this?"

Venus's gaze settled on the gaming machines, and Mercury almost smiled. She could see the blonde's thoughts racing. "We can block off the broken windows with the games. Limit their access to the building."

Mercury nodded. "Good thinking."

"If there are any of the gaming machines left over, we could knock them on their sides in strategic places to provide cover," Jupiter said.

"Somewhere further back," Mars added. "Somewhere Jupiter and I could use our long range attacks from. The Flame Sniper and the Supreme Thunder."

The girls were grinning now. The plan was coming together. "Let's do it," Venus said.

They went to work. Mars kept a look out for the Dagonites while the rest of them set about moving gaming machines to block the windows. It was easier than they would have thought: their strength was significantly enhanced when they weren't wearing their depowered forms. Absently, Mercury wondered when she had started calling them 'depowered' forms instead of 'normal forms,' or just calling it being detransformed. No time to worry about that now.

Soon enough, all the broken windows were blocked: the only access was by means of the main entrance. Two gaming machines were on their sides back near the steel door that led to the government shelter, and both Mars and Venus were taking up their positions behind them. But there was something missing. Something... Mercury smiled. She opened her hand, summoning up a tiny ball of blue ice-tinged magic.

"And for her next trick," Venus called from across the room, smiling wryly.

Mercury smiled ever so slightly, and then tossed the ball of magical energy onto the still wide open floor area between the entrance and the steel door. It spread across the floor and rapidly solidified into a sheet of ice, and Mercury found that with a simple act of mild concentration, she could maintain it at below the freezing point.

They were ready. After a last minute discussion, the Guardian Senshi took their positions.

The monks from the Esoteric Order of Dagon arrived some ten minutes after the Guardian Senshi had finished their preparations. They approached from across the street, about a dozen of them, men and women both, all dressed in pale robes and each pair carrying a box between them. Their approach was almost totally silent, but a faint smell preceded them: a smell like the harbour at low tide: brackish and foul. They stepped through the doors and then stopped short: Sailor Venus stood before them, barring their way.

"They're gone," Venus announced. "The people in the shelter are safe from you. We've sent them away." She leveled an accusatory finger at the monks. "Those who would corrupt and destroy humanity can never be forgiven. I am Venus, and in my name, and in the name of the Silver Moon, you will be punished for your atrocities."

The monks each set down their boxes and moved forward until they were facing Sailor Venus as a united front. The shadows shifted, and all at once a man appeared in the midst of the monks, pale of face and clad all in black robes on which were written blasphemous incantations in praise to the Old Ones. "So," he said. His voice seemed very ordinary. Like the voice of a neighbor, or a trusted friend. "The Silver Moon really has returned to the Waking World."

Venus blinked. She hadn't expected to encounter someone willing to talk rather than fight. "Who are you?" she asked. "Why are you doing this?"

The dark man smiled pleasantly. "Oh, it's nothing personal. We just need soldiers is all."

Venus nodded. "We assumed as much," she said, her tone a dangerous one. "Turning human beings into monsters to serve as shock troops. Building an army out of innocent people. It's unforgivable."

"You'd be surprised what sorts of things can be forgiven in a time of war," the Dark Man replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Surely you've sensed it. The gathering of power. The Deathbusters are preparing to make their move." He shook his head. "You won't stop us, Venus. It's not in your best interest, besides. Things will go much better for you in the long run if you just step aside. I should warn you, these are not like the monks of Dagon you may have faced before: each of these is trained in the fighting arts, both the magical and the physical."

Venus brought her hands together as if she were holding a weapon. Instantly, a shining crystal sword emblazoned with the symbol of Venus sprung into being in her hands. She leveled the weapon at the Dark Man. "You aren't going to take one step further, or I'll punish you in the name of the Silver Moon."

The Dark Man nodded. "So be it," he said. He glanced at the monks. "Kill them." He then drew a sword out of his own robes. It was the colour of the ocean at midnight, and on it were inscribed many fell runes. It seemed to give off an icy chill.

The monks rushed forward into the room, and immediately about half of them slipped on the frozen floor.

"NOW!" Venus shouted even as she brought her sword up to parry the Dark Man's deadly thrust. The two blades met with a crackle of unleashed power, golden and midnight blue light writhing around their joined surfaces.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!" Sailor Mars called from behind the gaming machine she was using as cover. The arrow of fire lanced out and downed one of the monks instantly.

"SUPREME THUNDER!" Jupiter yelled, sending forth an intense blast of lightning into another of the monks.

Venus dodged another slash from the Dark Man and countered with a vicious thrust that would have impaled him right through the midsection had he not brought his sword up to parry at the last second: the blade skidded off of his own and tore a hole in his robe.

Mercury looked out at the arcade-turned-battlefield. Most of the monks were still on the ice. "Jupiter!" she called out. "Now!" She released the magic keeping the ice frozen. It melted instantly, turning into a large puddle at the feet of the monks of Dagon.

Jupiter grinned a vicious grin. She quickly summoned up a ball of pure electrical power. "Sparkling Wide Pressure!" she incanted as she flung it into the center of the puddle.

Electrical energy crackled across the room, flowing easily through the water and into every single monk that stood within the puddle. They had not even time to scream; their nervous systems overloaded instantly by the sheer power of the energy flowing through them: sixty kiloamps, three million volts per meter crossing an eight meter diameter puddle, 5 coulombs, and 500 megajoules, all of which translates into ten extremely dead monks falling to the floor, their bodies still convulsing as the electricity burned its way through their nervous systems.

Venus jumped back away from the Dark Man, sword held at the ready. "Looks like your friends weren't as deadly as you'd hoped," she said.

The Dark Man did not respond: rather, he grimaced, took a step backwards, and vanished into thin air.

The Senshi waited a beat, and then Venus jumped into the air. "Yatta!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

--------------

The great lobby of Mugen Gakuen was littered with dead bodies. Quiet, still, empty. Corpse after corpse lay where students had just fallen over, their wills completely drained away, even to the point where they had not energy enough to continue breathing. So they had died. Their bodies had shut down, and they had died.

In the midst of this lobby-turned-charnel house, Sailor Saturn stood, shaking her head. She could sense Akane's ki signature somewhere above her. She knew that Akane was still alive, but judging by all this, she had no idea for how much longer that would be true. Saturn recognized some of those who lay dead here in the lobby: some of them were her classmates. She grimaced.

Nearby, a grand staircase ascended into the innards of the school: the very same staircase where she and Haruka and Michiru had held a shouted conversation. She hoped that they were ok. It didn't look good at this point, but she hoped they were ok. But she couldn't worry about that now. Akane was somewhere above. Sailor Saturn strode up the stairs, up one flight, up another flight, another, another, ascending into the innards of the building until finally she came before a small metal door beyond which... beyond which... 'Akane,' she thought, 'You had better be OK.'

She opened the door: it was cold to the touch. She walked through, and the door stood ajar behind her.

The door opened into a vast chamber – the summoning chamber, where only a few hours earlier, Ryouga had met his fate. It was dark save for the glyphs around the summoning circle, and the faintly glowing star-field on the ceiling.

The winged, scythe-bearing statue of the Messiah of Silence loomed large.

---------------

A long, strange procession wended its way up the steps to the Hikawa Shrine. It was growing towards evening now: three hours had passed since the first attack on the shelter at the Azabu Juuban Underground. Sailor Moon stood at the head of the column, with Ikuko, Shingo, and Kenji immediately behind her. Behind them was Sailor Venus, and then the refugees from the Crown Game Center, with the other Senshi scattered amongst them, and Jupiter bringing up the rear. It took nearly five minutes for the entire procession to pass, with nearly five hundred people walking in roughly single file, some straggling, some rushing to catch up, all nervous, all hopeful. They'd been promised some place safe, and what's more they'd been promised it by someone they believed in: Sailor Moon. To some she was little more than an urban legend. To others she was their greatest defender. But to all of them, she represented hope in a very real way, and that hope was all that was holding them together at this point.

Chibi-Usa, Mamoru, Luna and Artemis stood at the top of the stairs, watching the column approach.

As much as she wanted to run to Mamoru, Moon held herself back. She had to see these people through, and she suspected that if she were to run off ahead, the rest would scatter. Slowly, painfully slowly, she completed the long trek up the stairs.

Mamoru inclined his head. "Sailor Moon," he said, and his voice was full of warmth.

Chibi-Usa was smiling widely. "Welcome back," she whispered, pitching her voice quietly enough to avoid it carrying to Ikuko. Then she turned towards Ikuko. "Ikuko-mama!" she called out excitedly.

"Chibi-Usa-chan!" Ikuko exclaimed, rushed up and pulled the little girl into a fierce hug. "You're all right! I was so worried!"

Chibi-Usa nodded, her eyes shining. "Sailor Moon has been looking out for me," she said.

Ikuko gave Moon a sidelong glance. "Good. I'd hoped that she would."

"Hello, brat," Shingo said as he walked up behind Ikuko.

Chibi-Usa stuck her tongue out at him.

"Chibi-Usa," Kenji said, inclining his head in greeting.

"Kenji-ojisan," Chibi-Usa replied, smiling happily.

Kenji smiled faintly. "I told you not to call me that," he said half-heartedly.

Moon smiled, and then turned to the rest of the approaching group. "Everyone gather in the courtyard. From there we'll be able to take you all somewhere safe. Somewhere beyond the reach of the monsters."

The people did so, gathering together in the courtyard in front of the shrine. It took a while to get them all sorted out, but eventually, they were all there. Bruised, battered, hungry, tired, and very alive.

"So what's your big plan, Sailor Moon?" Venus asked. The Senshi, Mamoru, Luna, and Artemis had gathered near the top of the long stone stairway.

Moon spared a friendly smile for Luna and Artemis. "Hey Luna. Hey Artemis."

The two moon cats smiled as best they could. "Welcome back, Sailor Moon," Luna said.

Jupiter spoke up next. "Where are you going to take them all if they won't be safe here at the shrine?" she asked.

Moon swept her gaze across the others. "To Queen Serenity in the Dreamlands," she said. "She will watch over them until the current threat has ended.

Jupiter blanched, and Venus and Mars looked uncomfortable.

Luna's eyed widened. "The Dreamlands! I hadn't thought of those in..."

"Ten thousand years?" Artemis asked.

Luna glared at the white-furred cat, then looked back at Moon and the others. "From what I remember, Queen Serenity was a very powerful dreamer. I didn't know that she had re-established the Silver Millennium in the Dreamlands after its fall in the Waking World, however."

"It makes sense, though," Artemis said. "And I'm glad. The Dreams of Men need places of light like that. When are we leaving?"

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea, Usagi-chan," Jupiter said uncomfortably.

Mamoru, Luna, Artemis, Mercury, and Sailor Moon all looked at Jupiter in askance, while Venus and Mars looked uncomfortable.

"Usagi-chan," Venus said, "I don't know how much you were told, but the last time we were there, things didn't quite go like we wanted."

"What do you mean?" Moon asked.

Jupiter broke in then. "I wasn't completely truthful with you when I told you what happened there, Sailor Moon." She looked ashamed. "I'm sorry."

An awful sense of hurt welled up within Sailor Moon's heart. She looked at Jupiter disbelievingly. "Go on," she managed to say.

"When we arrived, Queen Serenity treated us – Venus, Mars, and myself – very well. Actually, when we first arrived, we were attacked by Moon-Beasts. It was a band of soldiers from Eternity that rescued us, under the command of Princess Ersa."

"Princess Ersa?" Moon asked.

"She's your little sister," Venus said, smiling faintly. "She was born in the Dreamlands – after the fall of the Silver Millennium."

Moon's face lit up at that news. She had a sister! "What was the problem, then?"

Jupiter answered: "Saturn was with us, too."

Mars nodded. "The first thing Queen Serenity did after we arrived was lock Sailor Saturn away in the dungeon."

"She thought Saturn was a threat to you," Jupiter added. "She said that Saturn would destroy the world. That she wouldn't have a choice. She said that..."

"Uranus and Neptune said the same," Mamoru commented.

Venus nodded. "Serenity said that... that each Senshi represents a concept as well as a planet. She said that Saturn represents Ruin. That she can't help it: she IS Ruin, and that she'll bring it in her wake whether she wants to or not."

Luna and Artemis said nothing, but exchanged meaningful glances.

"I can't believe that," Moon whispered. "Not Ranma."

"Serenity believed it," Mars said. "She said that she wasn't going to let Saturn hurt... you."

"We knew you would never approve," Jupiter said. "That's why we rescued Sailor Saturn and ran away."

"I see." Moon's face was unreadable. None of them knew what she was thinking. What she actually WAS thinking was this: 'Wait a minute. Momma, Shingo, and Papa were only saved because I'm Sailor Moon! If it weren't for me, they'd be monsters now! Oh, why didn't I say that when we were arguing?' Then she blinked. That had been random. It hurt that her Senshi had lied to her. As she looked at Jupiter, she wondered if she'd be able to trust her again. Yes. Yes, she decided. It would take a while, but yes.

"So you see..." Jupiter trailed off, looking at the other Senshi helplessly. "It might be a bad idea to go back."

Mamoru looked to Sailor Moon. "What do you think, Usako?"

Sailor Moon met Mamoru's gaze. "I think that Queen Serenity and I have a lot to talk about, her treatment of Sailor Saturn not the least. We're going." She gave Jupiter a disappointed look. "Tell the people to get ready."

"How exactly are you planning to get them to the Dreamlands, Sailor Moon?" Mars asked. "We don't exactly have a Tomoe house to cross over from."

The Ginzuishou appeared in Sailor Moon's hands.

"Oh," Mars said.

She thought of all that she had gone through since she'd first become Sailor Moon. The Dark Kingdom. The wish that had returned everything to normal, for a little while. The Makaiju. The Black Moon. And now, the Deathbusters and this 'Esoteric Order of Dagon.' For so long, all she had really wanted was for things to be normal. But now, as she looked around at all of these people whose only hope in survival rested in her, she knew that she could no longer afford to pursue those dreams. If they were going to create a better world, it was time to put aside her dreams of escape from her responsibilities.

The people had begun to gather around her, Ikuko and Chibi-Usa among the very first rank.

Sailor Moon held up the Ginzuishou, and as she did, the conversation she'd had with her mother earlier that day echoed in her mind: _"This is who I am, mother."_

This was who she was.

Her uniform unfolded and shifted: a brilliant white aura sprang up around her, and all at once she was the Moon Princess, clad in a flowing white dress, a golden crescent moon upon her forehead. Power radiated off of her in waves, and as she finally embraced her destiny, the earth shook beneath her feet. Her features shifted subtly: she was still Usagi, but she seemed goodlier: more awful, more divine.

The crowd stared in awe.

"Mama," Chibi-Usa whispered lovingly from her place next to Ikuko.

Ikuko looked down at the little girl in shock.

Then the Ginzuishou begins to glow.

-----------------

Saturn stood before the Summoning Circle, Silence Glaive in hand. The room was utterly silent but for the faint hum of the Circle. She glanced about. There was a Presence here - a weight. It was hard to think.

Quite suddenly, a gentle purple light came on off to the side. Then another. Soft, gentle, like the lamps in Hotaru's room at the Tomoe home, like the first, faint whisper of spring after winter. Another. Another. Then the whole room was bathed in that light.

Like something out of a dream, Akane stepped out from behind the statue of the Messiah of Silence, clad in a long, flowing, dark purple dress. "Ranma?" she asked, seemingly unable to believe her eyes.

Saturn's heart leaped. The Silence Glaive fell to the floor with a clatter, its blade sinking deep into the concrete. "Akane," she whispered.

"Ranma, I was so scared!" Akane said as she rushed up to the Senshi of Ruin.

Ranma's heart beat faster. Faster. She had found Akane! She had found Akane, and everything would be ok! Her head was buzzing. It was hard to think, and more pleasant not to. A smile lit up her face and she rushed forward.

And then they were kissing passionately, heedless of their surroundings or of the danger of the place. Akane's hands moved up and down Ranma's body, and her hands over Akane's. Passion swept over them. Akane's dress fell to the floor, Ranma's fuku joined it a moment later, and all at once Ranma was in her lover's arms, and all the world seemed full of hungry kisses, soft curves, and passionate moans.

"Akane, I..." Ranma tried to say. It was hard to think. Hard to think of anything except for her.

"Do you love me?" Akane asked.

"More than anything," Ranma replied immediately.

"Then give yourself to me."

A cold chill went through Ranma's heart, and a realization of exactly where she was returned to her. Her top was on the floor, but the lower part of her senshi fuku was still on her. The summoning circle glowed menacingly not a dozen yards away, and the soft purple light played across their skin, creating strange patterns of flesh and shadow. This wasn't like the first time she and Akane had been together. This was different somehow. Wrong.

"Wait, Akane, something isn't right..." Her skin burned at Akane's touch and desire, pure and primal, rose up within her breast. All rational thought was nearly obliterated in an instant.

Akane's hair began to grow with unnatural speed until it covered their nudity like a cloak. "I want you," she said, her eyes glowing an intense purple.

There was a smell in the air that tingled at the back of Ranma's awareness. The smell of... (Nemesis). Akane kissed her breast, and she shivered. "Something isn't..." she managed to say.

"I've always wanted you," Akane – Mistress 9 – said, her voice low and passionate. "You should have been mine."

Mistress 9 kissed Ranma again, their bodies moving as one. Then she looked right into Ranma's clear blue eyes, her own eyes shining with purple light.

Ranma felt the blood drain from her face.

"You shouldn't have died, Hotaru," Mistress 9 whispered. "Your body should always have been mine."

Mistress 9 kissed her again, and pressed her body against Ranma's almost frantically, as if seeking that oneness of flesh that had been denied her by her inability to possess the then-deceased Hotaru. But there was more. This was AKANE. There was a light, a hunger in her eyes that was unmistakably her. Ranma was WANTED on a level that she had never seen since... since... Nemesis, and it was Akane who wanted her that way.

Mistress 9's skin began to writhe and shift, yielding before Ranma's touch. Ranma – Sailor Saturn – felt her arousal vanish as suddenly as if someone had flipped a switch to turn it off. She stared in horror into her lover's eyes, and distantly she heard once more the words of Y'Golonac:

"_SAILOR SATURN," the creature intoned, though it had no mouth, its voice an horrific parody of human warmth, "I HAVE ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO BECOME ONE WITH A SENSHI." It reached out one of its orificed hands towards her, longingly, needfully, and it put forth its might. "BECOME ONE WITH ME, BODY AND SOUL, AND I WILL SHOW YOU SUCH PLEASURES AS YOU HAVE NEVER DARED TO DREAM."_

"That's enough!" Saturn snapped. Her sigil flared upon her forehead, and a burst of power flung Mistress 9 headlong off of her. Her body glowed for a moment, and when it faded she was fully clothed, Silence Glaive in hand. Saturn's eyes were as hard as diamonds, and fury raged within her: fury at having been tricked, fury at nearly having given in, and deep beneath that, sheer terror at the thought of the fate she had only narrowly avoided. She felt... dirty. She leveled the weapon at Mistress 9, and it came to rest scant inches from the woman's face. "Who are you, and what have you done with Akane?"

Mistress 9 trembled, and the writhing of her flesh subsided. The glow faded from her eyes, and they were purple. She began to cry. "Ranma," she whispered. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Saturn blinked. "A, Akane?" she asked incredulously.

Mistress 9 nodded miserably, clenching her fists against the floor of the summoning chamber. "I'm a pervert. It's perverted. But I want you so much! God, why is this happen..." she trailed off, and a sense of **Presence **filled the room once more.

"Akane?" Saturn asked hopefully. She embraced the other girl once more, this time not needfully, but comfortingly. "I'm here."

Mistress 9's eyes began to glow, and her dress flowed back onto her body. The tears dried up, and she traced the line of Saturn's jaw with her finger.

Saturn felt that touch like it was fire, burning not unpleasantly across her delicate jaw line. She stared at Mistress 9, her eyes wide.

"I could give you everything, Ranma," Mistress 9 whispered, her hair shifting around her lazily, snake-like, casually brushing against Saturn every now and then.

Not just her jaw: everywhere Mistress 9 touched was like fire, and Saturn realized in that moment that what she wanted more than anything else was Akane. Not 'everything.' Just Akane.

"My father – my real father – is coming. He'll be here soon. I could give you power beyond your wildest dreams."

Well, that took some of the shine off the deal. Saturn laughed, and there was a hint of bitterness to it. Power? Akane would give her power? "Who do ya think I am, Akane? I got so much power it's a lia, liab, uh..." She thought for a moment. "Liability, not an asset. I could break the world in half by bringin' down this Glaive." She gestured a little with the Glaive. "Just," she mimed bringing down the glaive with her free hand. "Woosh, and Earth's gone."

Mistress 9 looked faintly annoyed. "Then I could give you my love."

"Already got that," Saturn said.

"Authority. A position at my side in the new world."

Saturn looked unimpressed.

Mistress 9's eye began to twitch. "GOD, you're annoying! Ranma, get this through your stupid, stubborn head! If you'd just give yourself to me, worship me, you can have everything!"

Saturn sighed. "I love ya, Akane, but I ain't the worshippin' type."

Mistress 9's battle aura rose up around her, and the heat of it forced Ranma to take a step back. "RANMA NO BAKA!" she shrieked, and suddenly there was a mallet in her hands. In short order, Saturn was sent flying into the far wall.

Saturn grimaced and rose to her feet, brushing bits of debris off of her fuku. "Damnit Akane, that ain't funny!"

Mistress 9 glared at her fiancé-turned-fiancée. "No, and neither is this you dummy. Ryouga! Get out here!"

Saturn blinked. "Ryouga?"

"I said get out here!" Mistress 9 snapped. She looked around. "Damnit, where IS he?"

Saturn tapped her two index fingers together. "Maybe he got lost."

Mistress 9 made a face. "GET BACK HERE, RYOUGA!" she shouted. Then she gathered her power into a sphere of dark energy and flung it at the summoning circle. In a flash, Ryouga materialized where the sphere had struck, looking somewhat bedraggled.

"Now where am I?" he asked. Then he took in his surroundings, and his eyes narrowed. "Ranma..." he clenched his fist.

"Uh, hey Ryouga," Saturn said. OK, that was odd. How did he recognize her in her Senshi uniform? No time to think about that now.

Ryouga immediately began to glow a deep, dark red. He looked... odd. His pupils were dilated; his eyes showed almost no white. His fangs were more pronounced, and several swathes of Daimon-pink colouring could be seen across his hair and skin. He glared at the red-headed Senshi. "For what you did to Akane, prepare to die!" he yelled.

Saturn blinked. "What I did to Akane...?" But that was as far as she got before Ryouga was all but on top of her, and she had to duck to avoid a powerful boot to the head. She leaped backwards to get some space between the two of them and hefted her glaive. "Ryouga, I don't know what you think I did to Akane, but I..." Ranma dodged a razor-sharp bandana. "KNOW," she ducked under the swing of Ryouga's umbrella and kicked him in the face before springing back and away once more. "That ya probably took it the wrong way."

Ryouga's eyes were glowing red now. "Shut up you coward! What you did can never be forgiven! You swore you wouldn't hurt her! You're a girl too, now! How could you do something like that to her?"

"WHAT?" Saturn yelled. Was Ryouga seriously suggesting that she had... had... no way. There was no way.

"Now, DIE!" Ryouga gathered up some of the red energy that surrounded him into his hands. "SHI SHI HOUKODAN!" he bellowed, flinging a MASSIVE blast of red and green energy.

As it flew towards her, Saturn almost giggled. Almost. It looked like a flying Christmas decoration. Still, this was a deadly flying Christmas decoration. She hefted the Silence Glaive. "SILENCE WALL!" she cried. A moment later, Ryouga's blast detonated violently against Saturn's shield.

Smoke rose up all around her form, but Sailor Saturn was unharmed. Still, that had been a hell of a blast: far stronger than anything Ryouga had ever thrown against her before. This might actually be a challenge. With a confident smirk on her face, Sailor Saturn leaped into battle.

They fought like earth and water, Ryouga strong and immovable, Saturn endlessly fluid and agile. For ten minutes they fought nonstop, blows flying furiously between them, evading or shrugging off each other's attacks, leaping here and leaping there, sending out ki blasts, bringing out special techniques.

Ten long minutes of nonstop combat was what it took for Saturn to realize that her blows just plain weren't having the effect that they should have. Even the kachu tenshin amaguriken barely served to stagger the Lost Boy, and although she could evade most of Ryouga's attacks, those attacks of his that did get through her defenses were far stronger than they should have been, and he wasn't tiring out the way he normally did. It looked like if she wanted to win this fight, she had to stop holding back. Only problem was, the only thing she was holding back at this point was the power of Saturn.

If she wanted to win, she had to kill him.

That was a problem.

---------------

From their vantage point near the entrance to the summoning chamber, Uranus and Neptune observed the confrontation unseen, a cold mist flowing out around them, dimly illuminated by the gentle purple light that emanated from within. Mistress 9 had vanished some time after summoning Ryouga to her presence.

"What do you think?" Neptune asked.

"I think she's losing," Uranus replied.

So she was: despite her absolutely amazing level of skill, Ranma was being worn down. She simply did not possess the same level of Daimonic endurance that Ryouga did. They had been fighting for fifteen minutes nonstop now, and it was clearly taking its toll.

"She could kill him at any moment, and she holds back. She could destroy the whole building without much trouble, but she hasn't." Neptune commented pointedly.

Uranus met Neptune's gaze. "Do you think those girls really are right about her?"

Sailor Saturn took a vicious, vicious blow to the face and staggered, allowing Ryouga to follow up with a sweep kick that knocked Saturn from her feet. She barely managed to roll out of the way of his ensuing ki attack.

"Maybe," Neptune replied.

"Mouko Takabisha!" Saturn yelled, gathering up a ball of blue confidence-tinged ki and flinging it at the oncoming Lost Boy. It struck him with a thunderous explosion, but he just came right on through it like a freight train and cracked Saturn solidly on the jaw with a vicious right hook.

"She could still end up destroying the world, you know." Uranus said.

Neptune smiled faintly. "Sailor Moon believes in her."

"Sailor Moon is a silly girl," Uranus replied.

Neptune nodded. "But you believe in her."

Uranus stared at her partner. Within the summoning chamber, Saturn managed to rally herself and went on the offensive, forcing Ryouga back. For about ten seconds, she seemed to have the upper hand. Then her energy peaked, and Ryouga went on the offensive again.

They stood there, watching in silence for another minute.

"Do you still think Saturn needs to be sacrificed?" Neptune asked.

Uranus looked torn. She didn't reply. Another minute passed.

"We're running out of time to make a decision, Haruka," Neptune said.

Uranus looked up, and the tension in her bearing faded away. She had decided her course. "Then let's not keep them waiting," she said.

Neptune smiled. Together, they dashed into the room.

Saturn was all but beaten, now. A vicious kick to the chest sent her tumbling to the floor. Ryouga grinned a savage grin as he raised his umbrella and prepared to drive it into her face as hard as he could. "Now," he said, "You can finally..." He slammed the weighted umbrella down. "DIE, RANMA!"

Unnoticed, a handful of sakura petals drifted by on the ghostly wind.

And she might have died indeed, but at that moment a shout rang out at the door: "WORLD SHAKING!" A moment later, a ringed ball of energy attuned to elemental wind flew across the space between the door and the two combatants. It struck the unprepared Ryouga head on, flinging him violently backwards and away from Sailor Saturn.

Both Saturn and Ryouga looked up in surprise.

"Invited by a new age, I am Sailor Uranus, acting with elegance."

"Also invited by a new age, I am Sailor Neptune, acting with grace."

There, silhouetted against the entrance, stood Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. The Outer Duo had arrived.

"You!" Saturn said, surprised at their appearance.

"YOU!" Ryouga bellowed, enraged by their interference. "Stay out of this!" He gathered his ki into a ball and flung it their way.

The Outer Duo dashed out of the way, and the ki blast detonated harmlessly in the spot where they had stood only moments before. "Neptune!" Uranus called, even as she herself dashed towards the downed Sailor Saturn.

Neptune gathered her power, calling forth a ringed ball of energy attuned to elemental water. "DEEP SUBMERGE!" she incanted, sending the blast of magical power flying into Ryouga's face.

The Lost Boy, too surprised to dodge and only just having gotten back up after the World Shaking, took it on the chin. He was blasted clear off his feet and even as he flew backwards, he vanished into his clothing, which struck the floor in an empty bundle a few seconds later.

Neither Uranus and Neptune were about to look a gift horse in the mouth: with a protesting but thoroughly weakened Saturn now being carried in Uranus's arms, they made their escape. So it was that they missed what happened next: the bundle of clothing shifted, and from within them arose something new, dangerous, and ... adorable: a pink-striped black piglet, bweeing furiously, his eyes filled with killing rage. Absolutely sure he knew which way they were going, Daimon-P-Chan dashed out after the three soldiers of the outer solar system... and promptly got completely, hopelessly lost.

Meanwhile, Mistress 9 had not been idle. Enraged by Ranma's rejection, she strode angrily into a control room some three levels down from the summoning chamber. Here, Eudial had waited, observing the action over the video camera network. "Eudial," she snapped.

Eudial looked up, her glasses gleaming brightly in the dark control room. "Mistress 9?" she asked.

"It's time to begin the final phase. Activate the Daimons. My father's return won't be stopped: not by Ranma, not by anyone."

Eudial grinned widely – so widely that her face would have split apart had she still been human. "Hai," she replied, and then began flipping switches, seemingly at random. Yet not so random. Deep within Mugen Gakuen, huge vats full of Daimon eggs began to hatch all at once.

And outside, rushing headlong away from the building in Haruka's car, Uranus and Neptune could see a vast vaguely pinkish barrier rising in the distance behind them around Mugen Gakuen. The Deathbusters were making their move.

In that moment, they knew that the end was nearly at hand.

END CHAPTER 14


	16. The Council of Serenity

The vast, all-encompassing light was long in fading, yet fade it did. Usagi opened her eyes, and her heart leapt within her breast: there, shining like a jewel upon the shores of Mare Serenitatis, was the city of Eternity. It was night, and the Earth was rising behind the city, bathing it all in gentle, glorious, blue earthlight. The city's great crystal towers soared high into the Lunar sky, flying buttresses meeting towering spires and vast floating bridges in that distinctly Roman meets Greek meets Lunarian architectural style that tugged at Usagi's memories. There, off in the distance, the palace stood large, its grounds running from the rear of the city all the way up to the very shores of the sea of Serenity.

Usagi felt as though she had come home.

"Princess Serenity," came an awe-filled voice from off to her right. She turned. Luna and Artemis, unnoticed until now, stood staring. Staring at her, staring at the city, staring in general. It was Luna who had spoken. The reaction was not confined to the Mau: the whole group of refugees stared about in abject wonder, Ikuko not the least.

"Minna," Usagi said, and as she spoke, the refugees from Minato fell to their knees and bowed down before her: five hundred men, women, and children, all prostrating themselves before Usagi Tsukino. Within seconds, the only ones still standing were Ikuko, the Mau, Mamoru, Chibi-Usa, and the Guardian Senshi.

Usagi's voice failed her. One part of her knew that this was the respect due her station, but the greater part of her didn't want people bowing to her like this. She shook her head. "Everyone, stop it," she managed at last. "Stand up. You don't have to bow to me."

Nobody moved.

Before them, Usagi stood revealed at last, the crescent moon emblazoned upon her forehead for all to see, a sense of power and of royal presence radiating from her body. She had never felt so uncomfortable in her life.

And then, making it even worse, one by one, her Senshi each dropped to one knee before her.

A woman strode forth from the open city gates. She was tall, with pale, youthful skin, green eyes, white hair, and a crescent moon upon her forehead.

Usagi turned to face the woman, and though she could no longer see them, she still felt the weight of those people prostrating themselves behind her.

"Sailor Senshi," the woman said, her right hand straying towards the sword that was sheathed in an ornate scabbard at her side. and there was anger in her voice. "How dare you return here? The Queen will not be forgiving of your trespass..." she trailed off, her eyes widening as they took in the sight of the Princess Serenity before the gates of Eternity. "Princess!" She stared, opening and closing her mouth several times before settling into a kind of stunned silence.

Silence hung there for almost ten seconds before it was finally broken by Ikuko's shocked voice. "Usagi-chan, where are we?" she asked faintly.

Shingo and Kenji looked up in surprise.

Usagi glanced towards her mother and smiled. "The one place you'll all be safe while we fight the enemy on Earth: the Silver Millennium." She redirected her gaze to the woman that had emerged from the city. That must be Ersa, she realized. She wanted to greet the woman and get to know her. She wanted to talk casually with this sister she had never known. She wanted to say that everyone had to stop kneeling, to stop treating her like she was the Emperor. She even considered tripping over her own dress, just to dispel the sense of dignity and importance that had settled over her. Instead, she strode forward and said, "I have come to see the Queen."

Ersa stared at her for just a moment longer before coming to attention. She nodded to the guards at the gate, who immediately dispatched a messenger to the palace. "Come," she said.

Usagi took her place at Ersa's side. Mamoru and Chibi-Usa joined them a moment later, with the Senshi close behind, then Ikuko, and then the whole company rose to their feet, falling in line behind them. So began what may be the strangest procession Eternity had ever seen: Princess Serenity and her Senshi, accompanied by Ersa of the house of Serenity, leading a procession of bedraggled refugees to the royal palace.

All around them, the citizens of Eternity stopped and stared, the vast crowds parting before the procession, kneeling down and falling silent until the whole group had passed.

The Lunar Palace rose up before them, and Usagi took Mamoru's hand.

She was home.

--------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 15 – The Council of Serenity

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

--------------

It had taken some doing to get the old disused throne room ready to receive the Princess and her Court, but with no small amount of magical assistance, the servants had accomplished it. Selene now sat a bit uncomfortably upon the throne she had not used in nearly six thousand years, clad in full formal garb for the first time in nearly as long, not counting that incident with Sailor Saturn. When she had heard that Princess Serenity had arrived at the gates of the city, her heart had skipped a beat. Now, a full thirty of her daughters were in attendance, as well as various other lords and ladies of the Lunar Court.

It was into this scene that the Princess arrived with all her Guardian Senshi in tow. With her also were three that Selene did not immediately recognize: a little girl with red eyes and pink hair, a handsome, scholarly sort of man, and a somewhat frazzled looking woman in her late thirties. The man she supposed might well be Endymion, but she had no idea about the girl or the woman.

"The Princess Serenity and her court," the herald announced as the group entered the throne room. All the nobles looked up. "Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Prince Endymion, the lady Usagi Small Lady Serenity Tsukino, and Ikuko Tsukino."

Selene blinked in surprise. Ikuko Tsukino. This was Usagi's mother in her new life, then. And the girl was a ... relative? No. She used the name of Serenity. She looked very closely at the girl, and for a moment she saw a crescent moon there on her forehead. A daughter, then. Warmth filled her at the thought of it. She was a grandmother. Not that she hadn't been a grandmother before: with fifty some daughters that was more or less inevitable, but if this was the Princess's firstborn, that made her not just a granddaughter but an heir.

Selene rose to her feet, and the whole court did the same. "I greet you, daughter," she said. "Princess Serenity, heir to the Silver Millennium."

The whole court let out a breath that they hadn't realized they'd been holding.

The Princess curtseyed in the manner of the Lunar court, and it was somewhat clumsily done, as if she had never attempted the movement before. "I greet you, mother," she replied. "Queen Serenity, ruler of the Silver Millennium."

She remembered the forms, then. Good. It was delivered somewhat awkwardly, but at least it was done. Selene allowed herself to relax slightly. She smiled, and strode down the walkway and hugged her daughter fiercely, who immediately returned the embrace. The whole court began to applaud. Selene felt her heart well up within her: she had waited for this moment for ten thousand years. At last, it was here. "I've missed you," she murmured into her daughter's hair, and tears glistened unshed in her eyes. "Welcome home."

At last, and reluctantly, she let her daughter go, and the applause faded. "Let me look at you," she said, and studied the Princess in earnest. "You must have found the Sacred Cup," she said.

Usagi nodded, holding up her open palm. Light gathered there, and from that light the Holy Grail shimmered into being.

Selene took the cup in hand and held it up. "Contained within is your birthright, Princess Serenity: the last part of your power which could not transmigrate into your new life. Here it waits." She opened it and held it up for Usagi to see.

Usagi blinked. "It's empty," she said.

Selene nodded. "For now," she said. "But the time will come when you must drink it to the lees." She stepped back and held up the sacred cup. "The Queen is dead," she announced.

"Long live the Queen," the court replied with one voice.

She handed the cup back to Usagi, and it glowed faintly before vanishing in a burst of light that quickly sank back into Usagi's hand. "Welcome to the Silver Millennium, Neo-Queen Serenity," Selene said.

Usagi's eyes widened in shock.

As the entire court bowed low before her daughter, Selene smiled proudly.

--------------

"Let me go, already!" Saturn yelled for the twentieth time. She kicked and squirmed in Uranus's arms, struggling to find purchase enough to free herself. Far off in the distance, the faint pink shimmer of the shield around Mugen Gakuen could just barely be discerned. All around, the Minato Ward lay in ruins.

It was worse now than it had been. More empty. More awful. A few hours earlier, it had been a ruin, but it had still been alive at least. People had still called it home. Now, the ruins of homes and businesses lined the streets still stained with the strange, unmelting ice-patterns of dread Ithaqua. Empty. Silent.

Minato had become a ghost town.

As Saturn looked across the ruins, she fell silent. This had been her new home, once. She had promised her mother she'd attend school and work hard, that she'd do well. That she'd succeed. There would be none of that now.

"You can put me down now," Saturn said, no longer so much angry as irritated. "I can walk."

Uranus ignored her. Both her and Neptune ran on in total silence, empty ruined storefronts eventually giving way to empty ruined homes. Smoke choked the sky, and numerous fires blazed out of control in the distance.

They rounded a corner, and there in the distance, at the back of the T of a three way intersection, sat a two story house alone, the houses around it all smashed to their foundations, itself totally undamaged. The electricity was down everywhere in Minato, but lights shone out from the house's windows all the same. Only when they caught sight of the house did Uranus and Neptune slow to a walk.

Uranus gently lowered Saturn to the ground. "Come on, ojou. Once we're inside, it will be safe."

Saturn very nearly collapsed from sheer exhaustion then and there. OK, so maybe she wasn't quite so well able to walk as she'd thought. Uranus reached out to steady her, but Saturn stopped her with a glare of death. "I'm fine," she insisted, "And I ain't a princess." Forcing her tired limbs into obedience, she walked determinedly towards the distant house. She wasn't sure why these two were helping her instead of trying to kill her, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Neptune shook her head incredulously, and Uranus shrugged.

Together, the three Outer Senshi walked into the home of Setsuna Meioh.

--------------

"Neo-Queen Serenity," Usagi whispered, and shook her head incredulously. They had relocated to a warm, comfortable parlour. A well worn pool-table stood unused for the moment on a raised wooden part of the room. Three steps led down from it to the main area of the parlour where she and her friends had been led by a servant after the reception in the throne room. The Senshi were lounging about, talking amiably. Ikuko sat on the couch, staring about as if she weren't quite sure that her surroundings would not bite her.

Mamoru smiled. "I suppose that makes me King Endymion," he said.

"Not unless you've married her without the rest of us knowing, Mamoru-kun," Jupiter said wryly. Unfortunately, the fact that she had spoken brought Ikuko's attention to her, and furthermore brought the woman out of her stunned daze.

"So how long have you known my daughter was a reincarnated alien princess, Kino-san?" Ikuko asked.

Jupiter blinked. "Ano, Tsukino-san, that is..." she began, trying to buy time to formulate her explanation.

"Well?"

Jupiter's eyes narrowed suddenly. "How did you know I was Makoto Kino?" she asked.

Ikuko, to her credit, did not roll her eyes. "My daughter spends all her time with a group of four friends: one girl with long dark hair, one with short blue hair, one with long brown hair in a ponytail, and one with long blonde hair and a distinctive ribbon. Now I learn that she is Sailor Moon, who also has four friends: one girl with long dark hair, one with short blue hair, one with long brown hair in a ponytail, and one with long blonde hair and a distinctive ribbon. Kino-san, do you think I'm a fool? Once I knew my daughter was Sailor Moon, the rest was obvious."

Jupiter unconsciously reached back and tugged on her ponytail. OK, maybe Usagi's mom had a point.

For her part, Usagi was happy to let her mother talk with the Senshi if it meant that she wouldn't get yelled at herself. "Yeah," she said. Marriage. She and Mamoru would be married, one day. She wished she had something better, something more important to say than 'yeah,' but that was all that would come out.

"Did you ever think we'd see all this again?" Mamoru asked. "The Moon, Eternity, the Queen, her court."

Usagi shook her head. "It's like a dream," she said. She met Mamoru's gaze. "Do you think that if we go to Earth, we'll find the old King Endymion?"

Mamoru looked uncomfortable at that thought. "Maybe. But after what Beryl did to him, if my father were still alive..." he shook his head. "Maybe it's better if he's not."

Usagi looked around. "None of this is real, though, is it?" she asked, looking uncommonly thoughtful. "It's a dream."

"It's real," Selene said.

Everyone looked up. Selene had only just stepped through a side door. Gone was the formal dress of the Silver Millennium, and in its place were very casual, very modern clothes. "The Dreamlands may normally accessible only to strong Dreamers, but that does not make it any less real. The dreams of every sentient species throughout time and space uphold it, and the Great Ones govern it. At least, in these lands we do. Other solar systems will have their own Great Ones."

"Great Ones?" Mercury asked.

"Zo-Kalar, Tamash, Oukranos, Nath-Horthath, Lobon, myself, a few others. The weak gods of Earth."

"Weak gods of Earth?" Mercury again.

Selene nodded and looked troubled. "Yes," she said unhappily. "But that can wait for another time." She looked at Usagi and sat down in a nearby chair, gesturing Usagi and Mamoru to do the same. "I have to admit, when your Senshi blasted their way out of here, I was not expecting to see them return so soon, and certainly not with you at their head."

Mamoru took a seat, and Usagi did likewise, releasing her transformation as she did so. Her dress faded away leaving her regular clothing behind, yet her appearance did not change: the crescent moon remained.

"Why did you try to kill Sailor Saturn?" Usagi asked.

"I didn't," Selene replied. "Though I do think you are taking a great risk in letting her live. She could destroy the Earth in an instant."

Usagi shook her head. "Ranma-chan would never do that."

"Maybe, but the point stands. Regardless, Sailor Saturn passed my test, as did your Senshi. If Saturn hadn't passed, this city would not still be here. It was a risk, but your safety is more important to me than the safety of this city."

"You put your daughter before your citizens?" Mamoru asked.

"Yes," Selene replied. "Though that wasn't my only concern. There is also the safety of every human in the waking world." She looked to Ikuko. "So, you're my daughter's mother in her new life," she said, a slight hint of challenge in her tone.

Ikuko met Selene's gaze levelly. "That's right," she said.

Usagi looked from Ikuko to Selene and back. Having them both in the same room like this was... surreal. Mama and Mother, here, together, holding a conversation.

"I suppose you've done an acceptable job," Selene said, eyeing the other woman critically.

"Acceptable job?" Ikuko asked, clearly offended. "Acceptable job! Don't take that tone with me, young lady. I might not be one of the 'Great Ones,' but I'm not just some incubator for your reincarnated daughter. I loved her, raised her, cared for her needs and brought her up to be the young woman she is today. Usagi's just as much mine as she ever was yours."

"Mama," Usagi said, staring at Ikuko with eyes wide.

Tension hung heavily in the air between them for a long moment, and then Selene laughed. A moment later, Ikuko did too.

"Fair enough," Selene said as her laughter subsided. "It's nice to meet you, Ikuko Tsukino. Call me Selene."

Ikuko smiled.

"Now," Selene said, "Pandia, Tell me of your daughter."

Usagi blinked. "Pandia?" she asked.

Selene glanced at the Senshi, who were grinning conspiratorially. "Usagi, then," she said, letting the issue of Princess Serenity's private name drop for the moment. She gestured to Chibi-Usa.

"Yes, Usagi," Ikuko said, her voice dangerously calm, "Tell us all about your daughter."

Usagi blanched. That was a dangerous, dangerous tone. "Um, that is..." She trailed off, looking from the very unforgiving face of Ikuko to the interested and somewhat amused face of Selene and back. "It's not what you think!" she said, panic rising within her.

"What is it then, U-sa-gi," Ikuko said, putting equal emphasis on each syllable of her name.

Chibi-Usa watched the proceedings with a wide grin on her face, delighted to see Usagi made to squirm so.

"Um..."

Ikuko raised an eyebrow. "I'm waiting."

Mamoru laughed, and then shut up immediately when Ikuko leveled a glare of death at him. "Er..."

"I suppose you're the father, then?"

"I will be," Mamoru said faintly.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?"

"MOOOOOM! Don't yell at Mamo-chan!" Usagi wailed. "She's my daughter from the future and the future me sent her back in time to get away from the Black Moon Clan!" It all came out in a rush. The Senshi laughed, and both Selene and Ikuko blinked.

"Mamoru is your daughter?" Ikuko asked.

Mamoru and Usagi both cringed. "No!"

"Try again, slower this time," Selene said.

Mamoru spoke up. "Chibi-Usa is our daughter from the future," he said. "Sailor Pluto sent her back in time from the 30th Century during a time of trouble. In that time, the Earth will come under attack by a group called the Black Moon Clan, who pursued Chibi-Usa back to the twentieth century where they were defeated by Sailor Moon and the others."

Selene blinked. None of the Senshi had mentioned this the last time they had been here. "Sailor Pluto allowed her to travel back in time?" she asked.

Mamoru nodded.

"Strange. Very strange." She looked at Chibi-Usa. "Well, let's have a look at you then, Usagi Small Lady Serenity Tsukino."

Ikuko looked to Usagi. "Your life is always like this?" she asked.

Usagi nodded. "Hai," she said, tapping her two index fingers together nervously.

"Nice to meet you, Selene-sama," Chibi-Usa said brightly.

Selene and Ikuko both looked very closely at Chibi-Usa, studying her up and down.

"If you're Usagi's daughter from the future, why do I remember you being Usagi's cousin?" Ikuko asked.

"Ano..." Chibi-Usa began, looking nervous. "I, um," she tried to look as innocent as possible.

"Just tell her, Chibi-Usa-chan," Usagi snapped.

"I, um... I might have hypnotized you with my Luna ball," Chibi-Usa said, looking thoroughly chastened.

"You did what?" Ikuko asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I didn't want to!" Chibi-Usa wailed. "I'm sorry! It was the only way to find a safe place from the Black Moon clan! Please don't be mad at me!"

Ikuko stared at the pink-haired girl, speechless.

Chibi-Usa began to cry, and Usagi immediately stood up, crossed the parlour, sat down next to her and wrapped her up in a comforting embrace.

A few moments passed, punctuated only by the sound of the Guardian Senshi's conversations.

"Selene-mama," Usagi said seriously, "I brought a bunch of refugees from Minato here. The whole Ward's in ruins, and I need them to be taken care of until it's safe to come back."

"I had wondered about them. I'll look after them, but I want something in return."

Usagi looked at Selene questioningly.

Selene shook her head. "Nothing too hard. I may be one of the Great Ones, but you're Queen Serenity now and that puts you beyond any of us. By right of succession, all of this belongs to you now. I need your blessing to continue as ruler here."

Usagi nodded. "Oh. Um... ok. That's fine." At Selene's expectant look, she looked at Mamoru, then at her Senshi, and then at Selene, trying to think of what to say. "Uh... I give you my blessing?"

Selene smiled. "So it shall be," she said, and though the tone was gentle, there was a sense of finality in the air as she spoke the words.

------------

It is said that sometimes the smallest, most seemingly insignificant actions can change the world. A butterfly flaps its wings in central park, and in China there is rain instead of sunshine. A pebble slips from its place on the mountain and begins an avalanche. Now, Sailor Saturn was hardly a pebble, and if she was a butterfly, she was a butterfly the size of Texas, but the principle is the same. Well, mostly the same. Anyways, the point is that actions can change the world, and the actions of the mighty not least of all. And within this two story house, the only building yet standing – the only building totally undamaged - in an otherwise completely decimated area of Minato, four of the mightiest beings in the solar system had gathered.

Saturn entered the house as confidently as she was able. Which is to say she wasn't quite hectoring as she walked through the door. Thanks to the combination of her own natural accelerated healing and the boost that was brought about by her transformation, her bruises were already fading.

The sun setting, and its light through the haze of distant fires bathed the whole world in a terrible red light. Inside the house, however, kerosene lamps glowed warmly. The entryway opened out into a comfortable area with hard wood floors, a room designed around the time when architects were first making the attempt to remove the parlour from the home and replace it with the living room; although it was comfortably furnished, and looked lived in, there was yet the faintest aura of burial and mourning about the place: an undertone of sadness to the warmth of the room. There, rising from her seat in the great big 'dad' chair, was Sailor Pluto.

Saturn stared for a long moment.

Uranus and Neptune each walked past her and made their way into the living room.

"Come in, Saturn," Pluto said. "Sit. We have much to discuss."

"I, uh... right," Saturn said intelligently. She walked into the room and dropped unceremoniously into a chair. A moment later, Uranus and Neptune took their seats on the sofa, Neptune practically sitting in Uranus's lap.

Uranus smiled fondly and laced her arms around Neptune, her hands meeting at the other woman's navel.

Pluto gave them a look. Neptune rolled her eyes, and then scooted over enough that they were only thigh-to-thigh. Uranus looked disappointed.

"Uranus. Neptune. Saturn," with each name, Pluto looked at the Senshi in question. "Our enemies are not few in number. For ten thousand years, I have maintained my post at the Gates of Time," Pluto said. "For ten thousand years, the enemy has had opportunity to creep back into the world while you and the other Senshi waited to be reborn. They are solidly entrenched, and if this world is to have any future at all, we must remove them."

Uranus and Neptune nodded. Saturn didn't react.

"There are at present two major groups at work: the Death Busters are one of these, and they are our immediate concern. If their plans are brought to fruition, it means the end of the world. The other is more dangerous but less immediately so."

She looked at the three Senshi.

"If we are to succeed, we, the Soldiers of the Outer Solar System, must work together as the team we were meant to be."

Uranus and Neptune both shot a considering look Saturn's way, and she returned the favor. She was pretty sure she could take both of them if it came down to it, but doing it without killing them would be more difficult. That was the annoying thing.

"This is our target. As long as she lives, this world is in danger. Her name... is Mistress 9." Pluto produced a photograph and handed it first to the Outer Duo, who looked at it before passing it to Saturn.

It was Akane.

Saturn felt as though the bottom had dropped out from her world. She was sinking. The whole world was sinking, but she wasn't surprised. She had known from the moment she'd arrived in that damn spiral room that something was very wrong with Akane. The way Akane had acted. The way her flesh had writhed beneath her touch. The way she'd acted like Y'go... like that thing. And the entire student body, dead. Ryouga having gotten that funky power up. And yet... and yet... and yet... it was Akane. It was AKANE. Was she willing to pay this price? THIS price? She shook her head fiercely. "No."

"You saw her, Saturn," Uranus said. "You saw what she did. There were seven hundred and twenty students at that school. How many of us do you think are still alive?"

Saturn's thoughts whirled about. She couldn't deny the truth of it, but...

"She killed them. All those children."

Saturn clenched her fists as Uranus went on, each accusation completely true, and each one failing to overcome one simple fact: "It's AKANE, damnit!"

Neptune and Uranus exchanged a startled glance.

"_Ranma_?" Neptune asked, completely shocked.

Saturn met Neptune's gaze and nodded. "Yeah. It's me," she said. Her uniform vanished, leaving the pigtailed girl in its wake. She glared defiantly at the three Senshi. "Ya got a problem with that?"

Neptune shook her head. She too dropped her transformation. A moment later, Uranus and Pluto did the same.

"Haruka? Michiru?" Ranma asked. It was half-hearted. She didn't have it within her to care.

"I'm sorry," Michiru said. "I'm so sorry." Her expression hardened. "But if it's a choice between killing and watching the world burn, can you really choose her?"

"Would you choose her?" Setsuna asked, gesturing towards Haruka. "Or you her?" she gestured at Michiru.

Both Haruka and Michiru's faces tightened at that.

"Look," Ranma said. "Akane ain't like that. I mean, sure she's an unsexy macho chick, and she's kinda clumsy, and her cookin' is more like toxic waste, but she doesn't have it in her to murder hundreds of teenagers. Uh, unless they're perverts." She thought about it. "Nah, probably not even then.

"You saw them dead, Ranma," Michiru said.

"I didn't say they weren't dead, just that Akane couldn't have done it. What if she's, uh, possessed or somethin'? That's happened before."

"She most likely is," Setsuna said. "Mistress 9 is not human. Akane Tendo was."

"Then, if we can get this 'Mistress 9' thing outta her, we won't have ta kill Akane, right?"

Haruka and Michiru looked to Setsuna.

After a long moment, Setsuna nodded reluctantly. "It's possible. It won't be easy, but it could be done."

"Anything," Ranma said. "I can't lose her. Not when I gave up..." she trailed off. There were tears unshed in her eyes. "I gave up everything for her. I won't lose her now."

"So be it," Setsuna said. "In that case, this is going to be that much harder." Uranus looked as though she was about to open her mouth to object, but Setsuna cut her off with a warning look.

Michiru looked at Ranma for a long moment. "Maybe we made a mistake," she said.

"Huh?"

Haruka gave Michiru a look. "She means about you. When we first met you as Sailor Saturn, we were ready to kill you."

"Oh, that?" Ranma gestured with her hand, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Forget about it. If I didn't have friends tryin' ta kill me, it wouldn't a been Tuesday."

"It was Wednesday," Michiru commented.

"Whatever. Point is, it's no big deal."

Haruka looked away, her expression troubled.

Silence. "It's a big deal to us, Ranma-san," Michiru said at last, her voice quiet.

Ranma looked at the two Senshi, surprised. "I, uh..."

Haruka nodded her agreement. "We..." she looked as though she was struggling with something that left a bad taste in her mouth. "We apologize. Both of us."

An apology. A sincere apology. She hadn't had one of those since... she wasn't sure. It had been a long time, anyways. A ghost of a smile graced Ranma's lips. "Yeah?" she asked.

"Yeah," Haruka said.

And that was enough.

------------

Long after the Terra had set and all the city of Eternity was fast asleep, a hybrid winged thing descended from on high, the frosts of space still glistening on its membranous wings. Its form defied description, bringing to mind simultaneous images of a crow, a mole, a buzzard, an ant, and a decomposed human being, and on its back was a rider dressed all in yellow. It settled there before the city gates, sending the guards into a momentary panic before they realized that this was not an attack.

The rider dismounted, patted the hybrid beast on what passed for its face, and turned towards the guards who even now approached with shock lances at the ready.

"Who comes before the gates of Eternity?" one of the guards called in challenge.

The rider stepped forward into the light. He was a tall, slender figure, though his bulk was partially obscured by his rich yellow robes. His face was covered by an eerie pallid mask, stupendous in its malign suggestiveness. "I bring a message to the ruler of this land," he said.

The guard raised an eyebrow. "And you are you that we should take messages to our Queen at your behest?"

The man in the pallid mask took several steps forward and stopped just beyond the thrusting range of the shock-lances. He held forth a letter, sealed with a strange, intricate circular symbol.

The guard approached the man, took the letter from his hand, and looked down at the seal. Immediately, his eyes widened, and he backed away from the man. "You are not welcome here," he snapped. "This land is under Serenity's protection: her power is proof against your sigil."

"Indeed," the man in the pallid mask replied. "Give her the message."

The guard shuddered visibly, tucked the letter beneath his arm, turned, and walked towards the palace.

So it was that he missed the horror that nearly unmanned the other guards at the gate: the man in the pallid mask smiled, the mask's awful features twisting visibly into a nightmarish parody of human warmth.

He wore no mask.

Their screams were quickly drowned out by the sound of the gate rumbling shut.

Satisfied with his work, the yellow-clad man mounted the hybrid thing which had brought him here. It flopped, hopped, and then lifted off into the night, carrying him off into the black.

Below, the city's alarms rang out in the night, long and clear.

--------------

The room was dark, and it was hard to see very far. A faint cold breeze drifted in through the open window, and the only light was the starlight that shone through the same. Usagi Tsukino tossed and turned in her sleep, moaning aloud as if in great distress.

Three dark shapes crept across the floor of her room, one holding a strange device that echoed wetly. Determined to carry out their nefarious plan, they converged on the helpless sleeping girl.

Usagi struck out at something in her sleep, seized her blanket, and began to gnaw on it. "Mmmm," she said faintly. "Chocolate city..."

The three dark shapes sweatdropped. Still, they were undeterred. Two of them hopped up onto the edge of the bed while the third – the one with the wetly echoing device – moved right next to Usagi's sleeping form. "Do you think we'll have to use this?" the largest of the three figures – a woman - asked.

"I hope not," one of the smaller figures – this one also female – asked. "Let's see, though."

"Wake up, Usagi," the largest of the figures said. She stepped into the starlight: it was Rei. She reached out and shook the sleeping Neo-Queen. "Hey, wake up."

The two shapes on the bed – Luna and Artemis – added their voices to the attempt. "Usagi-chan, it's time to get up."

Nothing.

Rei looked a bit irritated. "Usagi," she said a bit louder, now shaking the sleeping girl a bit more roughly, "Wake up."

Usagi rolled over and continued snoring.

Rei rolled her eyes, hefted her bucket full of water, and dumped it on Usagi's head.

"AIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Usagi shrieked, coming instantly into full wakefulness as she leaped out of bed and landed ungracefully on her butt.

Luna, Artemis sat on the edge of her bed, looking at her disapprovingly. Rei held an empty bucket, and looked not less disapproving. "About time, dumpling-head," Rei snapped.

"Minna, hidoi!" she said, shivering and glaring at the three of them, but mostly at Rei. "Why did you do that?" She was angry, and it showed.

"You wouldn't wake up, Princess," Luna said apologetically. The smile she was trying very hard not to show made her sincerity somewhat doubtful.

Artemis nodded. "Something's happened. Selene-sama sent us to summon you to council."

Usagi blinked, her anger fading. "Oh," she said. She stood up.

Rei's expression softened. "I'm sorry, Usagi-chan. I wish we could let you sleep, but the Queen said it was important." She looked at the two moon cats. "I have to go get ready. Make sure she looks presentable, you two." With that, she turned and walked out of the room.

Usagi turned to Luna and Artemis. "Rei-chan is so mean!" she said, and crossed her arms.

Luna smiled about as well as a cat could smile. "Come on, Usagi-chan," she said. "It's time to get dressed. We've picked out a dress for you already." She gestured with her left paw towards the dress that lay gently folded over a chair.

Usagi blinked. It looked like her 'moon princess' dress, but it was sleeveless, and it had a long, butterfly-shaped bow on the back. If she wore that, it would look like she had wings made of silk. She blinked.

"Do you like it?" Artemis asked.

"It's beautiful!" Usagi said, her tone breathless. She was holding up the dress before either of the cats could blink, inspecting it with the eye of an enthusiastic teenaged girl.

"Right. If you'll just put it on, the enchantments bound into the fabric will take care of the rest," Artemis said.

Usagi gave the white cat a level look, and didn't move an inch.

"What?" he asked.

"Artemis, you're really clueless sometimes," Luna said, shaking her head.

A moment later, Artemis, being held by the scruff of his neck, was dropped unceremoniously outside the door.

"And don't come back in until I'm done!" Usagi called.

Ten minutes later, Usagi Tsukino emerged from the room looking like the queen she was. Regal. Dignified. Important. Tugging on her dress where it hugged her hips uncomfortably, and then promptly falling flat on her face.

Artemis looked at her, nonplused.

"Not a word," Usagi hissed.

Some things never changed.

It was about five minutes afterwards that Usagi, led by Luna and Artemis, found her way to Serenity's council chamber. She took a deep breath as she readied herself to walk through the door, banishing the last bit of sleepiness from her thoughts. Or at least trying to.

One of the guards opened the door, and Usagi walked in, with Luna and Artemis close behind.

--------------

"I have called this council because of the message we received in the night," Selene said, looking out across the table at the others seated there. Guards stood at attention at the doors.

Around the table, Usagi, Mamoru, Chibi-Usa, Luna, Artemis, Rei, Ami, Minako, and Makoto sat in various states of fading tiredness.

"I will not do injury to your ears by reading it aloud. Suffice it to say, the power of the Dark Moon recognizes the threat that is growing in the Waking World. A group called the Death Busters is in the process of summoning their master, a great evil called Pharaoh 90, from their lair at a place in Tokyo called Mugen Gakuen. If Pharaoh 90 is allowed to reach the earth, it will subject every creature upon it to a fate far worse than death. The Dark Moon has therefore proposed an alliance. With the two halves of the moon united, the message says, we can prevent Pharaoh 90 from infesting the earth." She looked at each person seated at the table in turn. "And it need not stop there, of course. We could become great friends, the Senshi and the servants of Nyarlathotep. The two halves of the moon can form a great alliance: with this sort of power, you can accomplish every goal you've ever dreamed of. You can build your much fabled Crystal Tokyo, and all the world would lie at your feet, the Silver Moon and the Dark Moon as one. So reads the message."

Stunned silence hung in the chamber for nearly a minute after Selene concluded her statement.

At last, it was Selene who broke the silence. "They are right about one thing: Pharaoh 90 must be stopped. It is time for us all to decide who we are, what we will fight for, and what price we are willing to pay for our victory."

That broke open the floodgates. Everyone began speaking at once in a mad rush of chaotic noise. Everyone except for Usagi.

Selene sat back and watched, waiting. This went on for a good two minutes, and still nothing.

Usagi looked up, and found that her mother's gaze was fixed on her. She swallowed heavily. She picked two snatches of conversation out of the din.

"We can't!" Minako insisted. "It doesn't matter how much easier it would make it, we can't..."

"It would only be until the Death Busters have been defeated," Ami pointed out reasonably. "Sometimes, it's acceptable to choose the lesser of two evils."

"You..."

Selene was still staring at her. Usagi shook her head. She couldn't. She couldn't. And yet... she had to. With infinite reluctance, she looked out across the table and spoke. It was but one word, but it cut through the din like a knife. "Silence."

Immediately, all eyes were on Usagi. She squirmed uncomfortably in the center of attention.

"Selene-mama is right. It's time to decide who we are, what we will fight for, and what price we are willing to pay for our victory." They were all listening now. Good. She took a deep breath. "So here's what we're going to do..."

-------------

The night was cold and still beneath the light pollution of the Neriman skyline. The moon shone brightly above, but it seemed less a comfort this night than most. In the Tendo home, Genma set his pack down in the guest room next to Nodoka's and shook his head. The journey had been long and difficult, but the path of a true martial artist is fraught with peril. They had made it, and that was all that mattered.

Downstairs, he could hear the sound of the evening news. It was mostly bad news.

"...People in coastal areas are reporting increased sightings of what can only be described as 'monsters,'" came one report. "...inland, though whether these are related to the coastal sightings is currently unknown..." went another. It was all like that. Trouble was stirring all over the world. People were seeing monsters in places as far flung as New England, California, Alaska, China, South Africa, England, Jordan, Iraq, Norway, everywhere, really. Nothing was confirmed yet, but the sheer number of sightings was causing concern. It had been like that for a few days now, according to Nabiki.

Something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones. An old, primitive feeling: the mouse beneath the hawk, the deer before the mountain lion.

Something was wrong.

He rose to his feet and walked down the stairs.

Nabiki sat on the sofa next to Nodoka, the two of them watching television. Soun was out on the deck, looking out at the koi pond.

Kasumi was busily preparing dinner, and the delightful smell of her cooking filled the home.

Something was wrong.

"Dinner is ready!" Kasumi called out cheerfully.

Nabiki looked towards the kitchen. "What are we having tonight, sis?" she asked.

Genma didn't pay any attention to Kasumi's response.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

He walked out onto the deck and looked down at his old friend. "Thinking deep thoughts, Tendo?" he asked fondly.

Soun didn't answer.

Each step towards the man filled Genma with an unnatural dread.

"Tendo?" Genma asked again, reaching out towards his friend.

Soun fell over backwards. His face was missing. His FACE was missing, and something like maggots crawled over the ruin that was left.

Genma backpedaled into the house. "Nabiki! Nodoka! Kasumi! We're getting out of here right now," he said, harnessing that primal terror for something useful. Get to safety first, then he could indulge in being afraid.

Nodoka rose to her feet. "What's the matter, anata?"

Nabiki lounged back on the couch, quickly filling up the space that Nodoka had just evacuated. "Is there something..." she began. She trailed off as the front door splintered and shattered.

Genma looked up, and the vast grayish white bulk of a moon-beast loomed large against the night beyond. Before he even realized what he was doing, Genma had fallen into the combat stance of the Yama Sen Ken.

"KIJIN RAISHU DAN!" he called, sending a vacuum blade through the monster's gut.

It collapsed, bleeding black ichor all over the floor. It had never made a sound.

Screams filled the house.

"Nodoka, get the girls out of here!" Genma bellowed.

Nabiki scrambled to her feet. "What the hell?" Her eyes fell on Soun's body. "Daddy...?" she whispered. She staggered backwards, nausea warring with horror within her. She struggled to repress a raw, primal scream.

A silent grayish-white shape lunged in from the deck where Soun had been sitting.

There was no time to think. Genma would not let Nabiki or Kasumi die tonight. He flung himself between Nabiki and the creature. It seized him with both arms, and the mass of pink tentacles on the end of its snout burrowed painfully into his flesh. "Run!" he yelled. His battle aura sprang into being, and the whole house was filled with the light of his ki. "RUN!"

Even as two more beasts burst into the home, the girls ran, and Nodoka ran with them.

-------------

Setsuna rose to her feet. It was now nearly midnight: they had been talking for many hours, but it looked now as though their course was set at last. "Are we agreed?" she asked.

Ranma, Haruka, and Michiru each nodded.

"Good."

Ranma rose to her feet. Although the time spent here had allowed her to recover physically, she felt emotionally drained.

"Sailor Saturn," Setsuna began.

Ranma looked up.

"You are not to destroy the world unless there is no other choice."

Ranma's eyes widened. THAT was like cold water to the face. "Why do people keep tellin' me that like I need reminding? I got no intention of destroyin' the world. I have to save Akane."

Setsuna looked sad. "Don't rule out the possibility, Saturn. If it comes to it, it may be a mercy."

Ranma shook her head. "Whatever." She pulled a long piece of string out of her pocket and then willed her uniform into being around her. "You coming?" she asked.

The three remaining outer Senshi brandished their henshin rods.

"URANUS PLANET POWER!"  
"NEPTUNE PLANET POWER!"  
"PLUTO PLANET POWER!"  
"MAKE UP!"

In a swirl of magic and light, the three women became three goddesses. Then, as the light of the transformation faded into the warm, flickering light of the oil lamps, Pluto nodded. "We're going." She gestured, and the lights went out in the house.

Saturn headed towards the front door. "Right."

Pluto shook her head. "This way." She walked to the back door, opened it, and went outside.

Saturn flushed red, turned, and followed Pluto and the others. Even as she stepped out into the yard, her eyes widened.

"Woah."

There, parked in the back yard, was a helicopter.

-------------

The procession that left the city of Eternity was considerably smaller than the one that had entered it: here walked Usagi and her Senshi, with Tuxedo Kamen at her side. It was night: three nights since the council meeting, for time flows more quickly in the Dreamlands, and there were few on the streets to see them leave.

He was waiting for them just outside the gates. The man in the pallid mask, with his unearthly steed tethered close at hand. As the Senshi approached, he looked up.

"Have you a reply to my lord?" he asked.

Usagi stepped forward. "We do." Clad as she was in the same casual skirt and blouse ensemble she had arrived in, she was not an imposing figure, though the crescent moon yet gleamed upon her forehead.

The man in the pallid mask said nothing, waiting for her reply.

"My answer is no."

"No?" the man in the pallid mask asked dangerously.

"There will be no alliance between the light and the dark; we won't sell our souls for an easier way. Now," she produced the Ginzuishou, and it glimmered dangerously. "Get away from here and never come back."

The man in the pallid mask nodded sedately. "Then you have chosen to die like the dogs you are," he said in the same sort of tone one might use to discuss the weather. He turned and untethered his mount. Even as he swung his right leg over the animal's ungainly hip, he spoke over his shoulder in the same sedate tone, "Goodbye, moonbitch. We will not meet again." With that, his flopping mount leapt into the sky and flew off towards the horizon.

The Senshi did not relax their guard until he had passed beyond their sight. Then, and only then, did Mars smile at her Queen. "Said all your goodbyes?" she asked.

Usagi nodded. Chibi-Usa hadn't liked the idea of staying here one bit, but she'd been convinced to, in the end. Well, either that or she was hiding just out of sight. She glanced at a nearby shadow suspiciously. No, Chibi-Usa was definitely still in the palace. "I'm ready."

The Ginzuishou pulsed, and in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, the world around the group changed. All at once they stood in the courtyard of the Hikawa Shrine.

Usagi walked to the top of the long stairway that led down to the city, and looked out across the starlit landscape. "Let's go, minna," she said. "It's time to end this war."

END CHAPTER 15


	17. The Messiah of Silence, Part I

_Empty spaces - what are we living for?  
Abandoned places - I guess we know the score...  
On and on  
Does anybody know what we are looking for?  
Another hero - another mindless crime.  
Behind the curtain, in the pantomime.  
Hold the line!  
Does anybody want to take it anymore?_

_- The Show Must Go On_, Queen

**- FOUR HOURS EARLIER -**

It was dark and she was cold. So cold. The air was damp, and something cold and hard was biting into her ankles and wrists. It smelled like mold and fungus, damp earth and corpse-rot. Her throat was completely dry, and she desperately needed water. She didn't want to wake up here. She wanted to remain within the world of dreams. The smell of corpse-rot, however, is not a thing easily ignored. Nabiki Tendo came back to full awareness and opened her eyes.

Her father's dead body stood bound to the wall opposite her. His face was missing, and tiny living things writhed within the ruin that remained.

For a long moment, her father's corpse was all that she could see. Father. Corpse. Writhing things. Faceless.

Her world dissolved.

Nabiki wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she suddenly realized that she was screaming. Her throat felt raw, and it hurt, but she couldn't stop. Her father was dead. She shut her eyes, but the smell washed over her like the awful truth of what lay before her.

Daddy was dead.

How... how had this happened? How had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered was... she had been running out in the street. There had been more of those, those things. Those pale monsters. She, Kasumi, and Nodoka had been running for their lives. In spite of her horror, she had maintained presence of mind enough to know that they were heading towards the Nekohanten. She could see its lights in the distance, and she had known that if only they could make it there, they would be safe. Then something had grabbed her from behind, and everything went dark.

She managed to shut her mouth, and she bit her tongue so hard she drew blood. Her mouth filled with the taste of her own blood. She wanted to gag, but it felt good to have something liquid in her hopelessly parched mouth. She swallowed.

She wouldn't open her eyes. She wouldn't look at him. Wouldn't see. She knew it wouldn't go away, but it didn't hurt as much if she didn't look at it. She was crying, she knew, and she couldn't stop, but she kept silent now, her screaming fit well and truly done.

Ever the shrewd one, her mind began to race almost immediately in spite of the horror and the fear that bubbled up within her, filling her stomach with an awful, quivering sort of feeling. 'Think, Nabiki, think. You're still alive. If they'd wanted you dead, you wouldn't have woken up. That means they need you for something.' She opened her eyes, and the shock of seeing her father's corpse hanging there not five feet in front of her nearly unmade her. Summoning her reserves of will, Nabiki Tendo steeled herself and forced herself to ignore it. She looked around, taking in her surroundings.

She was in a cold stone chamber in what looked like a natural cave. The only light in the room came from phosphorescent fungus growing across the ceiling. The sickly green light they provided did nothing for improving the looks of her surroundings. Water trickled down the walls of the cave. Further inspection revealed that only three of the walls were natural: the fourth was a wall made of black stone clearly carved by the hands of an intelligent being, in the center of which was a very plain wooden door. She was bound to a wet stone wall with steel shackles on both her hands and her feet. Her wrists and ankles were chaffed, and her right wrist was bleeding slightly. That would get infected, her mind noted clinically. This place wasn't exactly sanitary. She wasn't the prospective medical student that Kasumi was, but she'd been around both Kasumi and Doctor Tofu long enough to know the basics. This was bad. This was really, really bad.

Aside from her father's body, she was alone.

She wouldn't look at him. If she looked at him, she'd break down again. Swallowing another mouthful of blood, though the flow had lessened now, she looked towards the door.

"Hello?" she called. The weak, raw, hoarse quality of her own voice was startling. She almost broke down into helpless sobbing, but Nabiki Tendo was made of sterner stuff than even she had ever suspected: she steeled herself once more, fixed her eyes on the door, and called again, this time in a stronger voice, "Hello? Is someone there?"

Something was there. Out in the corridor. A quivering fear rested there, beyond the door. A fear not located within Nabiki herself. And though no earthly thing was there save the faintest stirring of the air, through the door's barred window, she knew that her gaze had been met. Something. A ghastly shape in the darkness. It leered at her even as her only human mind refused to perceive its form. For a moment, its dark and terrible presence threatened to overwhelm her...

She shut her eyes and looked away.

'Damnit, damnit, I have to be stronger than this. Think, Nabiki. THINK. What do they want? What could they possibly want with you? What can you use?'

The door opened. The door opened, and the dark, terrible presence of the thing in the hallway flowed towards her like a rotting tide. Bile rose up in the back of her throat. She clenched her eyes shut and shook her head. She wouldn't vomit. She wouldn't scream. She wouldn't scream. She wouldn't give this THING the satisfaction. It was in front of her now. She could feel its hot, sour breath on her face. She could almost taste it, like sewage on her tongue. She WOULDN'T scream.

"Peace. Leave us."

It took a few seconds for the sound of the watery but recognizably human voice to register in Nabiki's mind. By the time it did, the dark presence was already departing from the room. A few seconds later, it had faded back into the hallway, and the sound of the door swinging shut echoed loudly.

Footsteps on the stone floor, coming closer.

"You can open your eyes now," the owner of that watery voice said. "It's gone."

She did. Before her stood a man dressed all in black, with strange runes inscribed all over his clothing. He was an unpleasant looking man, with a strangely narrow head, an almost flat nose, and bulging, too large eyes that rarely blinked, but at least he was recognizably a man.

Even in her relief, even in the wake of such terror, Nabiki remained her calculating self: she let out a shuddering sigh of relief, and a thrill shot through her as he smiled, clearly pleased with the way things were going already. "Who are you?" she asked in a weak, frightened voice. She wasn't faking that fear anywhere near as much as she wished we were.

His smile widened ever so slightly. "I'm your only hope in this place, Nabiki Tendo. I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse."

--------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 16 – The Messiah of Silence, Part I

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

--------------

**- NOW -**

It was night, but the red haze of distant fires made it hard to see the stars. The moon shone brightly overhead. United they stood within the courtyard of the Hikawa Shrine, the Four Soldiers of the Guardian Guards, Tuxedo Kamen, and Usagi Tsukino. All in a circle, hand in hand, they stood, summoning forth the power of their respective planets.

"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER!" A brilliant aura of gold sprung up. A moment later, a deep fiery red aura joined it with a cry of, "MARS CRYSTAL POWER!" "MERCURY STAR POWER!" An icy blue aura joined the first two. "JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!" A verdant green aura joined the first three.

Tuxedo Kamen concentrated, putting forth his might. Beneath him, the Earth responded. A shimmering aura sprang up around him, shining with the brilliant golds and blues of all the saints. For a moment, a crossed circle appeared on his forehead, and then his clothing changed: his tuxedo and cape was replaced all at once with a suit of shining armour, a sword sheathed at his side.

"MOON COSMIC POWER!" Sailor Moon called, and an aura of white light sprang up around her.

Then, all together, they completed the incantation: "SAILOR TELEPORT!"

Power surged around them, and debris floated into the air... and then, nothing. The power faded, and they were left standing there, blinking at each other in surprise.

"What happened?" Venus asked.

Mercury produced her computer and performed a quick analysis. After a moment, she shook her head. "It's no good. There's a shield around Mugen Gakuen that's preventing us from teleporting in at this distance." She studied the readings for a few moments longer. "But if this readings are accurate, it's only shielded against long range teleports. If we can get close to the building, we'll be able to teleport through the shield."

Jupiter smiled grimly. "Right. Looks like we're doing this the hard way." She cracked her knuckles.

"Not necessarily," Venus said, thinking quickly. "Maybe we can't teleport directly inside the school, but what's stopping us from teleporting to just outside the school, and then teleporting inside from there?"

Mercury blinked, genuinely surprised that she hadn't thought of that first. She punched a few numbers into her computer and glanced over the results. "No good," she said. "We used up a lot of power even with that failed attempt." At the questioning looks the others directed her way, she explained: "Teleporting uses up significantly more energy than any other power we have, and although we recover it fairly quickly, if we try to do two more teleports in rapid succession, there will be a ten minute window in which we'll all be too exhausted to defend ourselves." She thought about it, "Except for Usagi-chan, but even she wouldn't be at 100."

"Would teleporting twice me more draining than potentially fighting our way close enough to teleport once?" Venus asked.

Mercury nodded. "There's at least an 80 chance of us being better off fighting our way in than we would be teleporting twice."

Venus sighed dramatically. It HAD sounded too easy. "Right," she said, and looked to Usagi expectantly.

Usagi didn't look too pleased at the prospect of running and possibly fighting all the way to the Mugen Gakuen building, especially now that she had proven unable to transform into Sailor Moon. Ami had said it was because she now had full access to her powers and that technically, what she couldn't do was transform back into a human, but it didn't feel the same. Still, there was little else that could be done about it, and as their Queen, it was time to give the orders. "Sailor Senshi," she said, and they all looked to her. "Ima yo."

They nodded as one, and dashed off into the night.

---------------

**- THREE AND A HALF HOURS EARLIER – **

"What do you want from me?" Nabiki asked, trying very hard to hold on to her intellectual capacity in the midst of the storm of emotion that raged within her.

The Dark Man smiled a friendly, neighborly sort of smile. "You're a smart girl, Nabiki. Why don't you tell me?"

Nabiki met the man's gaze, and almost managed not to flinch. Her thoughts were racing again. "You don't want to kill me. If you'd wanted that, you could have done so long before I woke up. You want me off guard and off balance, otherwise you wouldn't have left the body here. But as for what you want with me..." she shook her head and forced herself not to look at Soun's corpse. "I'm a normal person. It doesn't make any sense. Normally, people come after Akane or Ranma."

"You're so close. So very close."

Nabiki blinked. "You want me because of my connection to either Ranma or Akane."

The Dark Man nodded.

"I won't help you hurt them."

"So brave, so righteous. But is that who you really are, Nabiki Tendo? And do you really want to protect the monster that killed your mother?"

Nabiki's eyes widened and she very nearly shouted a denial before she managed to get control of her emotions. The shackles on her wrists and ankles bit cruelly into her flesh from the strain she was putting against them. "Why should I believe anything you have to say?"

The Dark Man shrugged. "Because I have much more to gain by telling you the truth than by lying to you." He gestured, and a mirrored ball appeared in the air next to him. "Behold."

Nabiki looked into the ball. Her perceptions shifted, and she had just enough time to curse herself for being fooled before she felt a sense of tugging, and everything went dark.

A moment later, she was walking with two other girls and a very tall woman with a kind face.

Her mother.

HER MOTHER!

She couldn't control her own movements. Couldn't do anything but ride along in her young body. Something dark swooped down from above, descending upon Akane. They all screamed, she and Akane and Kasumi, as the dark shape invaded Akane's body. Their mother strode forward shouting... something? Her battle aura glowed visibly around her. Then the darkness in Akane lashed out, and her mother's aura guttered out like a candle.

There was another rush of perception, and Nabiki was suddenly back in the cell again with the cold and the damp and the Dark Man. She struggled to repress the urge to vomit. "What... the hell... was that?"

"Your memory, Nabiki Tendo. Akane hasn't been your sister for ten years now."

"What is she, then?"

"A common enemy. The spawn of a being known as Pharaoh 90 who seeks the end of this world. She is Mistress 9."

"Why should I believe that you aren't just showing me what you want me to see?"

The Dark Man shrugged. "I suppose I could. Let's try a different approach, then. How would you like for me to bring your father back to life?"

Nabiki stared at the man. "... You can do that?"

"Life's easy," he said, snorting dismissively. "Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." The Dark Man gestured, and the writhing things in the wreck of Soun's face responded instantly, burrowed further down into his flesh until they vanished within, leaving terrible oozing holes in their wake.

Then the remains of his face began to change.

Nabiki watched in horrified fascination as his torn and jagged flesh knit itself back together, visibly writhing and twisting horribly until it was once again HIS face. Her daddy's face.

He took a breath and opened his eyes.

Nabiki stared, her eyes wide and her jaw dropped open.

--------------

**- NOW -**

"FIRE SOUL!" Mars called, sending an intense blast of flame towards the pair of Deep Ones that even now dashed towards her. They collapsed, shrieking in agony as the flames devoured their flesh.

"Mars, stop!" Usagi cried, rushing to the side of the writhing, burning Deep Ones.

Mars withdrew her power from the burning foes as Usagi approached them, snuffing out the flames in an instant. "Usagi! You could have been hurt!" she snapped.

"We can't kill them!" Usagi said, putting her hand on the charred flesh of one of the two, now dying, Deep Ones. "They used to be human."

Mars' eyes widened. She looked down at the two creatures in shock. "Can you... do anything for them, Usagi-chan?"

Usagi looked down on the charred Deep Ones with compassion. They struggled, reaching for her, desiring only her death but unable to move; her heart was moved to pity. "It's OK," she said, stroking each of their foreheads in turn. "Everything will be fine. You'll see." A faint light began to shine, centered in the palm of her hand, and the strange, fish-frog features of the Deep Ones... dissolved. Faded. Their flesh lost its tortured, twisted shape and flowed easily, like water down a hill, back into human form.

The Senshi stared.

At that moment, a blast of deadly green energy came flying at Usagi from off to the side. She staggered backwards out of the way, but the two newly healed men were unable to do so: the beam washed over them; for a split second, their eyes opened, and they screamed.

Then they burst apart in a shower of orange goo.

Usagi stared at the remains, utterly horrified. "No," she whispered.

Another blast lanced out from inside the remains of a nearby home, missing Usagi by mere inches.

"Usagi, we have to go!" Venus said.

Usagi didn't move.

"Endymion-sama," Venus said, gesturing to him.

Endymion nodded, and took Usagi by the hand. She responded to that, looking up into his face.

"Mamo-chan?" she asked.

"Usako, we have to go," he said gently.

She burst into tears, but she followed him regardless.

"Minna," Venus said, "We should avoid them as much as you can. If we win, we can come try to heal them later, but our first priority should be to get to Mugen Gakuen and stop the Death Busters."

The others nodded, and they dashed off down the darkened street.

War had come to Minato. War between the Death Busters and the Old Ones. Flopping, hybrid humanoid fish-frog things swarmed through the streets of the Minato Ward leaving death and chaos in their wake. Armed with glowing tridents, they blasted everything in sight, which at the moment included the Senshi. Yet even as the swarm bore down on the Sailor Senshi, a contingent of female humanoid monsters that looked like they had been grown from whatever happened to have been lying around at the time - basketballs, cars, video games, purses, and on and on - burst up from the ground and tore into the fish-frog things, and the empty streets echoed with the sound of their combat.

The Senshi, with Prince Endymion in tow, dashed away from the battle site. Even as they fled the scene, reinforcements joined the Deep Ones: a vast contingent of Moon-beasts mingled together with strange, Satyr-like beings charged into the fray.

Their route took them through a destroyed supermarket, its glass doors shattered and its far wall simply gone, the smell of spoiled food thick in the air. They were only inside for half a minute, but the taste of rotting vegetables and spoiled meat stayed with them for almost ten minutes afterwards. Then it was across what had once been a major road, dotted with wrecked and stalled automobiles, and then they were racing down the sidewalk, gutted storefronts all around them. In the distance, they could see the form of Mugen Gakuen rising up out of the ruined city, enshrouded in its pink barrier.

It was like that for most of the way to the school. They came across large groups of monsters, small groups of monsters, large group of monsters battling even larger groups of monsters. Slowly but surely, the constant invocation of their attacks began to take its toll on their energy reserves. Though the monsters were individually no match for Usagi and the others, their group numbered only six. Through it all there were two things that held true universally: everywhere, the Daimons fought against their unified foes, and everywhere, the Daimons were losing. Yet the Daimons did not need to win: they needed to delay. To hold off the enemy until their master was summoned was all that was required.

Fires burned uncontrolled, and the reek of death mingled with the smells of smoke and of Daimons and creatures beyond description, and the ice brought by Ithaqua covered most of the streets, still unmelting. Dark, awful, tainted: Minato had become a kind of hell.

In spite of it all, in the midst of this hell, even after having seen two men killed before her eyes, the thought that crossed Usagi's mind was this: 'I guess we don't have to worry about that high school entrance exam.' She immediately felt guilty and small and petty for having thought it, but there it was.

-------------

The ruined cityscape rolled away beneath them as the helicopter ascended into the sky. Uranus sat at the controls, with Neptune at her side, and Saturn and Pluto in the passenger's area. The entire machine was enclosed, and all four wore earphones. As far as Saturn was able to tell, Uranus made a surprisingly good helicopter pilot. "Hey Haruka," she said, "Where'd you learn to fly helicopters?"

Uranus glanced back at Saturn for a split second before returning her attention to the controls. "Learned to fly?" she asked.

Saturn blinked. "Uh... you do know how to fly this thing, right?" she asked.

Uranus only grinned, and gunned the throttle.

Neptune rolled her eyes.

Saturn swallowed nervously, now feeling considerably less safe within the helicopter. Her hand reflexively closed around the length of string that she yet held in her hands.

Pluto's eyes fell upon the length of string. "Feeling sentimental?" she asked.

Saturn looked up. "You already know, don't 'cha? Ain't you the Guardian of Time?"

Pluto gave her a thoroughly unamused look.

"All right, all right," Saturn said. "I brought it 'cause if we're gonna rescue Akane, I gotta go into battle as me. It wouldn't feel right otherwise." She reached back and began to do her loose hair up into a pigtail.

Pluto smiled.

Off in the distance, Mugen Gakuen rose high above the surrounding ruined landscape, surrounded by its shield-shield.

---------------

**- THREE HOURS, TWENTY FIVE MINUTES EARLIER -**

"Na, Nabiki?" Soun asked confusedly. He strained against his bonds for a moment, and then relaxed. "Where are we?"

Nabiki felt her resolve breaking. She felt a terrific wave of relief and gratitude welling up within her, and it took every ounce of steel she possessed to quell it. To not become daddy's little girl and cry out with joy. She knew that if she indulged in such emotions, she would be lost. "I see," she said, and managed to keep most of what she felt out of her voice. "What are your terms?"

The Dark Man grinned shark-like, and his stained yellow teeth glinted in the mushroom-light. "You will do everything I tell you to do without question, or I will undo your father's resurrection."

"Where are we?" Soun asked again, now beginning to panic. He looked to the Dark Man. "Who are you? What are you doing to us? Let my daughter go! You can do whatever you want to me, but let my daughter go!" Tears began to flow down his cheeks.

Nabiki abandoned all pretense of appearing as a frightened little girl: she didn't need to pretend what had become very much a reality, and the effort of doing so in addition to trying to think a way out of this was taxing her mental resources. "Not good enough," she said as coldly as she could manage. "I want specific terms. If I'm going to help you, I want to know everything I may be contractually obligated to do in advance, and I want my father set free and taken back to our home, I want assurances that he will remain unharmed, and I want you to leave the rest of my family alone."

The Dark Man looked surprised. "Are you really going to dissemble when your father's life is at stake? I'm impressed." He met Nabiki's gaze. "Very well. Here is what we require of you: Pharaoh 90 is being summoned even now. We want you to stop him by any means necessary. We believe that Mistress 9 possesses enough humanity that we will be able to use your connection to her as a weapon that will buy us enough time to put an end to the summoning. As for the rest of your family, we have no interest in them. Despite your family's demonstrated aptitude for channeling Eldritch power through your human bodies, your sister would be most unsuitable for this task."

"And my father?"

"Will assist you in your task, and be released upon its completion."

Nabiki stared at the Dark Man. "What's to stop me from accepting and just going on my merry way?"

"You mean besides the fact that we can undo your father's resurrection at any time?" the Dark Man asked.

"Yes," Nabiki said. "Besides that."

"You won't," the Dark Man said. "A deal is a deal, after all." He smiled darkly. "Now, will you accept?"

Nabiki looked at her weeping, blubbering father, then at the Dark Man. "Let me think about it," she said as coldly as she could.

The Dark Man held up the mirrored ball again. This time, there was no shifting of perception. This time, an image appeared within it: The Amazons at the Nekohanten were fighting off hordes of what could only be described as monsters, preventing them from reaching Kasumi and Nodoka. Nodoka wielded her sword, and black ichor coated the blade; a dead moon-beast lay at her feet; she looked halfway panicked but very determined.

"I am tired of playing games, Nabiki Tendo. Accept, and I will call off the attack."

Nabiki shuddered. She had been outmaneuvered, and she knew it, but she'd be damned before she let him see that. "I accept," she said.

The Dark Man smiled.

A moment later, the door of the cell swung open and the dark presence from the hallway came howling into the room. Immediately, Soun began blubbering with terror. Yet it was not the same as before. There was a sense of anticipation now that hadn't been there the last time the Thing had been in the room.

This time, Nabiki realized with horror, it would not be called off. This time, it would join with her. It was right in front of her now. Once again, she could taste its sour breath against her cheeks.

Forcing her fear down once more, Nabiki looked at the Dark Man. "What do I do?" she asked.

He spoke a word of power, and the Thing in the room lost cohesion, its parts separating out into cloud of phosphorescent dust. "Breathe," he said.

She breathed.

-------------

**- NOW -**

All across the world, the Old Ones stirred in their slumber. That which had laid dead but dreaming for countless aeons woke to find that the arrival of Pharaoh 90 was nearly at hand. The Sleeping God awoke. Father Dagon and Mother Hydra rose up from the depths. Severn Valley in England collapsed into ruin, and a great, bloated blanched oval supported on myriad fleshless legs with eyes forming and vanishing across its great bulk rose up out of the wreck. The ruin of his home stirred the Lord of Dead Dreams, and deep beneath the Earth, in the lightless depths of N'kai, the Sleeper awakened at last.

In the United States, the news anchor for C.N.N. sat in a state of near shock, a graphic of the White House burning in the background as he delivered the news. "... Before contact was lost, the President declared Martial Law in response to attacks by, um..." he shakes his head incredulously, "We're getting reports of armies of 'Fish Men' attacking the Eastern Seaboard. We're going live now to White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux. Suzanne?"

The screen changes. A woman stands on a sunlit grassy knoll, and the white house visibly burns in the background, engulfed in a tremendous firestorm. "As you can see, the White House is burning behind me. Now, there's no word on whether the President has escaped, but the Vice President is reported to have been on a visit to Canada at the time the fire began. The Capitol building has likewise been struck, ruling out the possibility of accident..." A convoy of military trucks went back in the background, and a platoon of fully armed marines walked into the shot.

"The military is mobilizing in force, and... oh my God."

Before the reporter's terrified eyes, a horde of fish-men charged into view, each wielding a strange, trident-like weapon. The marines reacted quickly, but not quickly enough: half a dozen blasts of sickly green power from the tridents melted the entire squad of marines into puddles of orange goo on national television.

The reporter began to scream.

A moment later, an Apache helicopter swung through the shot. The camera tilted to follow it as it let loose with a tremendous burst of machine-gun fire into the group of fish-men. The bodies of the creatures were torn to shreds.

The screen went back to the anchorman, whose jaw was hanging open. "Suzanne, get the hell out of there!"

It was much the same everywhere. In England, 10 Downing Street lay in ruins beneath a towering amorphous entity that looked nothing so much like an amoeba made of tar and a huge group of moon-beasts. The Prime Minister was dead, but the Cabinet had managed to escape, and UNIT was beginning to mobilize in response to the threat.

The same story all over the world. France, Germany, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, China, Russia, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Japan. Horrid, winged hybrid things did battle on the very grounds of the Imperial Palace. They came out of nowhere, rising up as if from the earth itself. The Emperor was missing. The capital building was destroyed, the Prime Minister, dead.

Tokyo had become a city under siege in a world under siege.

United for the first time in aeons by a common threat, the Old Ones had awakened, and they found that they were strong.

--------------

Nabiki Tendo strode silently through the sewers beneath the Minato Ward, unphased by the stench of rot and human waste that filled the passage. Her vast, membranous wings – the most visible of the signs of her transformation – were folded around her body like a cloak. Some twenty yards behind, her father followed in her wake, with about a dozen chaos spawn another thirty behind him. Deep Ones, the fish men were called. She understood their language now.

She wished she didn't.

She tried not to look at him. Her father, that is. Looking at him, seeing his face there, wracked with fear and pain, asking her for help, asking her why she hurt him so... she didn't want to deal with that right now.

The sewer entrance to Mugen Gakuen was somewhere close by, and she had retained enough of her human sensibilities to wonder why the hell no one else had thought of this before her: the Daimon shield did not extend below ground. If they could break through here, they might be able to infiltrate a small force into the building and bring down the shield from within.

Even as she walked, a soft squishing noise accompanying her every step through that fetid place, the memory of what had been done to her rose up fresh within her mind.

**FLASH**

Nabiki breathed. She breathed, and the glowing dust flowed into her lungs like the tide. At once she felt the terrible alien otherness of the thing as a pressure against her mind. Though she tried to resist, the pressure of it grew rapidly, more and more. Her body quivered as the Eldritch power of the creature began to change her, twisting her internal organs, shifting her bones in ways never intended by nature.

She clenched her teeth, determined not to scream. She wouldn't lose herself. Not this time. Great swathes of unnaturally pale, almost white pigmentation began to wind their way across her flesh, blotting out her natural skin tone. Her eyes burst, and she hissed in pain as their gooey remnants spilled out onto the floor. Then there was a sickening sense of writhing in her eye sockets. A few moments later, she found that she could see again: her eyes had returned, though not unchanged.

Through it all, the terrible, alien pressure in her mind grew, and grew, and grew. It began to seep in through the cracks. It was rising now, devouring her from the inside. An horrific pain tore through her shoulder blades accompanied by the sound of grinding bones: she was growing wings, and she had never felt a pain like it in all her life.

Soun whimpered in horror.

She wouldn't be taken by this thing. She wouldn't be taken by this thing. She wouldn't let it have her. She wouldn't go down without a fight. There, in the back of her mind, she felt something... something like a door. An open door.

Even as the alien mind of the creature devoured her, a last, desperate thought rippled through her increasingly frantic awareness: a door once opened may be stepped through in either direction.

With a strength born of sheer desperation, Nabiki flung her tattered awareness through that door and into the Beast's mind.

**FLASH**

She still wasn't sure who had come out on top, her or the monster. Maybe it didn't matter. The Dark Man had commanded her, and she had obeyed without question.

There. Off in the distance, a pair of Daimons stood guard before a large steel doorway. Nabiki's blood red eyes began to glow. She blurred forward into their midst. Before they could even register her presence, she had already shoved her hand through the chest of the first Daimon. Having no claws, this was done by raw strength. The Daimon burst apart into a handful of rulers and a broken Daimon egg.

The second Daimon reacted quickly, leaping backwards and preparing to fire a blast of dark energy from the black star upon its forehead. "You won't gain access to the Master's Lair!" it cried.

Those were the last words it ever spoke. It was fast, but Nabiki was faster. Even as it prepared to attack her, Nabiki lunged forward and tore its head from its shoulders.

The Daimon vanished, leaving a telescope and a broken Daimon egg in its wake.

Shaking her head at the weakness of these creatures, Nabiki threw open the steel door and strode into the basement of Mugen Gakuen.

She wouldn't look at her father.

She didn't want to deal with that right now.

--------------

Mercury's computer gave a sudden beep: they were in range to teleport within the energy shield around Mugen Gakuen. Great. Now if only they weren't surrounded by hordes of ravening monsters beyond count. Even as she thought it, a group of Moon Beasts rushed out of a nearby storefront.

For several minutes, their whole world seemed a whirling madhouse of magic and death as the Senshi fought simply to stay alive before the press of creatures from beyond, and more and more were arriving every moment: even as the last Moon Beast fell, six Daimons projected their fluid bodies out from the shield around the building.

Venus dropped to the ground just in time to evade one of them and cut it in half with her sword as it went overhead. "Chikishou," she cursed. This wasn't like anything they had faced before: this was all out war, and they were caught in the no-mans land between Mugen Gakuen and the other monsters that had laid siege to it.

In the storefront, the Deep Ones took up defensive positions and began firing at Senshi and Daimon alike. The dark of night obscured them partially, making it harder to see where they were shooting from.

"Remind me who thought this was a good idea?" Mars asked as she ducked under the blast of a Deep One's trident. She whirled around and returned fire with a burst of flaming rings and a shout of "BURNING MANDALA!" She didn't hit it, but she did force it to take cover.

"This is never going to work," Jupiter hissed, dodging a Daimon's charge and then slamming a ball of electricity into its gooey stomach. "There's too many!"

Usagi concentrated. She knew she didn't have the Moon Spiral Heart Rod anymore, but if the power was inside her anyways, then maybe, maybe she could call it out without the weapon. She raised her hand, and a tiny mote of pink energy appeared just above her palm. "MOON SPIRAL HEART ATTACK!" she called.

The results were unexpected. Instead of the normal energy heart, the pinprick of pink energy flared violently; a tremendous blast of holy power radiated out from her, leaving her friends unharmed but utterly disintegrating every true spawn of Chaos within a 100 meter radius. The Deep Ones were a different matter. Some it unmade, but most were left very human, very alive, very confused, and almost certainly doomed. Usagi nearly lost herself to sorrow at the sight of them, and the sure knowledge that though she had saved their souls, here, in the middle of this war zone, she couldn't save their lives: even as they recovered from the healing, they began to die, set upon by their former fellows. She immediately fell to her knees, drained, but not before she grabbed onto Mars' and Mercury's hands. "Minna, we have to do it now..."

The other Senshi nodded and quickly joined hands, even as the monsters regrouped and prepared to charge again.

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"MARS CRYSTAL POWER!"

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!"

"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER!"

At that moment, a tremendous roar rang out from the ranks of the chaos spawn, and a vast beast that looked like nothing so much as a vast amoeba made of tar came barreling towards the group. They would never be able to complete the teleport in time. Even as it approached, Usagi's eyes widened in fear.

Endymion stepped forward.

--------------

The helicopter descended on Mugen Gakuen from above, aiming directly for the star-shaped opening in its barrier field. For all that Uranus had joked about not knowing how to fly such a machine, she maneuvered it with supreme competence, moving easily down towards the barrier field.

That was when the Daimons that made up the barrier began their attack, sending out intense blasts of... themselves. Whips of viscous pink fluid surged upwards, flowing up and through the helicopter as if it were made of tissue paper, tearing huge gaping holes in it, tearing off the propellers and sending them flying down into the horde of monsters far below.

"Get ready," Neptune said. She and Uranus unbuckled their seatbelts and scrambled back into the rear compartment.

The machine began to fall.

Pluto looked at Saturn. "Now, Saturn," she said.

Saturn nodded, and raised the Silence Glaive in preparation.

The helicopter exploded.

-----------

An explosion thundered overhead, but they had no attention to spare for it. The Shoggoth was bearing down on them, and there was no way they could get out of the way in time.

"Sailor Moon, look out!" Mars cried.

The Senshi moved as if to jump clear and abandon their teleport, but at that moment, a rose went flying from Endymion's hand and struck the ground directly in front of the Shoggoth, embedding itself in the pavement.

The Senshi looked up.

"Endymion-sama!" Usagi called out excitedly.

He smiled at Usagi, and then turned and flung a volley of roses down all around the mighty beast. A moment later, a pillar of rose-red energy flew up into the air, each rose adding to the barrier field he had created around the creature: the Shoggoth roared its outrage. It wouldn't hold long, but the barrier just might be enough.

"Ima yo, Usako!" Endymion called, joining hands with the Venus and Mars.

Usagi nodded determinedly. "MOON COSMIC POWER!" she shouted.

The barrier flickered, flared, and then a dozen roses went flying in all directions. It would be on them in another second...

It was enough. "SAILOR TELEPORT!" they shouted as one. Power flared around them, surged up into the sky, and every one of them – Endymion included – vanished.

The Shoggoth smashed violently through the area they'd evacuated a split second later.

---------------

"Silence Wall revised: Silence Sphere!" The incantation was drowned out by the roar of the explosion, but audibility was not necessary: even as the helicopter erupted into flames, a large sphere of crackling purple energy snapped into being around Saturn, Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune. Fire roared around them - the heat of it was incredible - yet within the sphere, they fell completely protected, down, down through the wreckage, through the star-shaped opening in the Daimon-shield, each of them landing gracefully on the roof of Mugen Gakuen.

They had actually landed on the helipad. Only the seriousness of the situation and the knowledge that Akane was somewhere nearby prevented Saturn from laughing at the absurdity of that fact.

Nearby, a flight of metal stairs led down to the roof access door. Across the way, several antennas dotted up from the roof, and the edge of the roof was lined by a small steel ridge.

They had made it.

"Well done," Pluto said. She glanced down at the raging sea of monsters all around the skyscraper, stretching out in all directions for as far as the eye could see. There. A surge of power. The Princess and her Senshi had successfully teleported within. "Saturn," she said, her tone grave, "take care of the chaos spawn and then join us inside."

Saturn nodded.

Even as Pluto, Uranus and Neptune raced down the stairwell and into the building through the roof access door, Sailor Saturn brandished her Silence Glaive and walked slowly to the edge of the building.

She felt... anticipation. She had never used this sort of power before, and the thought of it excited her even as it filled her with fear. The night was dark, and the light of the stars were obscured by the seething mass of Daimons that formed the building's shield. Even now they reached for her. They knew she wasn't one of them. They knew she didn't belong. She felt it gathering. Power, and with it, all her sorrow, all her anger, all her feelings of helplessness and regret. She channeled them all into the Silence Glaive.

Distantly, she could hear her father's voice: 'A martial artist's duty is to defend the weak.'

They were out there, probably. Human survivors. People struggling to survive in the midst of all this death and horror. As a martial artist, it was her duty to defend them. But as Sailor Saturn, she had another, horrible, almost inconceivable duty. It weighed down on her like a stone around her neck, and in that moment, the weight of it nearly crushed her. Those people would not be alive for much longer, and compared to what awaited them if she didn't act, death was a mercy.

Yes, this was her duty. This was the burden she had accepted.

This was the price for saving Akane in the battle against Saffron.

"DEATH," she intoned, and the whole world seemed to reverberate with the sound. "REBORN." Power gathered around her. Tremendous, inconceivable, world-shattering power. All of it was there, in the palm of her hand. Darkness boiled around the Silence Glaive. Ribbons of darkness wrapped around its blade. Below, monsters of every description doing battle in the streets of Minato stopped and looked up, sensing the change in the air. "REVOLUTION!" she cried, and swept her blade down across the skyline.

Death had come to Minato. All across the world, humans and chaos-spawn alike stopped and stared in shock. All across the world, sound failed. Voices were stilled in mid-sentence by vocal chords suddenly unable to produce them. A sense of horror gripped the hearts of men; the Silence descended, even if only for a moment; a foretaste of the things to come. There came a bright flash of light, and then vast, roiling ribbons of pure death and destruction streaked down from the roof of Mugen Gakuen, ending the existence of everything they touched. The Daimon shield did not even slow it down: the whole great pink mass was visible for a split second like a photo-negative of itself, and then was simply gone. In total silence, the Minato Ward and everything within it save only the Mugen Gakuen building itself, ceased to exist.

Saturn lowered her Glaive, and she trembled. Below her, the whole ward, the WHOLE WARD had been reduced to a vast crater of cold glass.

And even for all that, all she had bought them was time. She had destroyed the forces occupying Minato, but the Old Ones had no lack of armies. Even now, she could sense them surging across the border between the rest of Tokyo and the glass crater that had once been Minato.

She turned away from the roof edge and walked down the stairwell into the building.

END CHAPTER 16


	18. The Messiah of Silence, Part II

The Earth shone brightly behind the city of Eternity, once again lighting it all up in a gentle, glorious blue. There, on a shining balcony overlooking the tranquil waters of Mare Serenitatis, Tsukino Ikuko stood, her hair blowing in the ocean breeze. It was yet night on the moon, and the stars shone brightly above.

"I wonder what Usagi is doing right now," she whispered to the Lunar night. She sighed. Here she was, safe and cared for in the Lunar palace while her only daughter fought to save the world! She wanted to laugh and cry simultaneously, and that only scratched the surface of her emotional state.

She felt a hand settle around her waist, and she looked down. Chibi-Usa stood at her side. She hadn't heard the girl approach. For a moment, she considered slapping the girl's hand away. The thought that her memories had been manipulated did not sit well with Ikuko. And yet... she sighed. "You're worried, too," she said. It was more of a statement than a question.

Chibi-Usa nodded.

"Isn't all of this just ancient history for you, Chibi-Usa?" The girl flinched at the lack of the normal 'chan' that Ikuko used to add to the end of her name when she spoke it.

Chibi-Usa thought about her answer for a moment. "Pu said that even though from my point of view all of this has already happened," she said, "From your point of view, and from theirs, it's happening now, and can be changed. So... I'm worried. But it will be OK."

"How can you know that?"

Chibi-Usa looked up at her grandmother. "I believe in Sailor Moon," she said simply.

Ikuko thought about that for a few moments, and then smiled. She put her own arm around Chibi-Usa's shoulder, and for a moment they two stood there, looking out at the waters of Mare Serenitatis. Finally, Ikuko looked down at Chibi-Usa and said, "Arigatou, Granddaughter."

Chibi-Usa looked surprised, and then troubled. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Why?"

"Because... because you might not get to see Usagi again for a long time. Maybe not until after you die."

Ikuko stared at Chibi-Usa. "Why is that?" she asked.

"... Because even though people don't age here, afterwards, even if you get to see Usagi again..." She sniffled. "Humans have a finite lifespan, Ikuko-mama. Usagi and the others, and me, don't."

Ikuko said nothing, but stood there, stunned by this new revelation. She had known that her daughter was very powerful, but she hadn't really given thought to the idea that her daughter and her friends were immortal. That they would live, and live, and live, and live, and live long after she herself was gone, long after everyone they had ever known was gone. She felt a wave of deep, deep sadness mixed with pity. She looked out at the ocean and said nothing.

"I'm glad I met you, Ikuko-mama," Chibi-Usa said at last. "Mama always told me that I'd love you." She looked up at Ikuko again. "She was right."

Ikuko smiled down at Chibi-Usa sadly. "I'm glad I met you, too, Chibi-Usa-chan."

The breeze picked up, and the two stood there on the balcony, side by side: Ikuko and her future Grand-daughter, with all the majesty of the Dreamlands spread out before them.

--------------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 17 – The Messiah of Silence, Part II

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

--------------------

A cold wind blew in through the shattered windows on the fortieth floor hallway of Mugen Gakuen.

Everything was gone. Everything. Usagi's house. Minako's house. Makoto's apartment. Ami's house. The Hikawa Shrine. Mamoru's apartment. All of it, gone. Their battleground against the forces of darkness for the last three years, gone. The tennis court where Usagi had once been absorbed into a giant tennis ball, gone. The park where they always used to have their picnics, gone. All of it, every last piece of the Minato ward, gone. The whole vast army of the Chaos Spawn, the Daimons, and all the humans whom Usagi had healed, dead.

Erased by an unspeakable power.

Usagi stared out in shock and disbelief upon the Silence-touched ward, and Endymion and her Guardian Senshi did the same.

Mercury looked down at her computer, then out at the utterly silent Ward beyond. "It was... it was Sailor Saturn's power signature," she whispered.

"Ranma-chan... did this?" Usagi asked. A deep horror rose up within her heart. THIS was the power that Uranus and Neptune had feared. THIS was the power her mother had warned her about. For the first time, she understood – really understood – exactly why they felt as they did. The moment passed: her heart recovered, and she shut her mouth, a grim determination settling over her. They would find another way. The power of Saturn would not end the world.

"Minna," Usagi said, and her voice sounded far stronger and more confident than she felt, "Let's go."

The others nodded.

For all the destruction outside, the battle wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.

--------------

Mistress 9 smiled contentedly as the last sonorous syllables faded into echoes reverberating through the vast summoning chamber. Her part in the ritual was nearly done: the circle was prepared, the rites observed, and most of the chants had been spoken. The Pure Heart Crystals of the students of Mugen Gakuen floated in a spiral pattern above the summoning circle, slowly churning towards the center where a pillar of darkness gave off an eerie, shadowy sort of illumination. It moved like clockwork: every ten seconds, another heart crystal was shunted into the pillar of darkness and shattered, giving off a faint pulse of light that appeared to come from a great distance.

Mistress 9 felt a peculiar sort of anxiety as the heart crystals ticked and tocked their way towards oblivion, but it, like the light, felt distant, as though coming from a great distance. She frowned.

The door hissed open, and Eudial strode into the summoning chamber, the Fire Buster MK III slung over her shoulder.

Mistress 9 looked up.

"They're here," Eudial announced.

Mistress 9 shook her head. "Too soon," she said. And it was. It was far too soon for any sort of interference to be permitted, and yet... no, it was important that this succeed. She knew that. "Delay them, Germatoid," she said.

"Which group?" Eudial asked.

Mistress 9 thought about that for a moment. "The Soldiers of the Outer Solar System are the bigger threat," she said at last. "I don't want Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, or..." there it was again – that faint twinge of something wrong, "or Ranma to get anywhere near this chamber before the summoning is complete."

Eudial nodded, and spared a quick glance at the tiny video screen mounted on her wrist-watch. She grinned widely – too widely. "It looks like that pathetic wretch might be useful after all." With that, she hefted her Fire Buster MK III and walked out of the room, leaving Mistress 9 to her thoughts.

Mistress 9 studied the summoning circle for a long moment in silence. Something about this felt... off.

---------------

It felt strange, having brought Ruin to the whole Minato ward. Not at all like Saturn had expected. She'd expected to feel guilt. Resentment. Fear. Something. She'd not expected this – this peace. Like it was the most natural thing in the world, and the essence of righteousness itself to have done what she did.

Saturn shifted uncomfortably as she walked alone through the darkened corridors of Mugen Gakuen. She wasn't altogether sure that she liked what her power was doing to her. She shouldn't feel so at peace after destroying the entire ward, and yet there it was all the same, and no matter how much she disliked it, the feeling would not leave her.

She felt at peace. Even more, she felt righteous. And it sickened her.

A flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. A door opened, and the man on the other side came within bare centimeters of being bisected by the Silence Glaive: Saturn managed to stop the weapon with its blade pressed to the tip of the man's nose before she hastily lowered it.

There, haggard and pale, still clad in his now filthy lab coat, was Soichi Tomoe.

------------

"Long time no see, Akane," Nabiki said, the irony in her tone flying right over Mistress 9's head.

Mistress 9 looked up in surprise and paused in mid-chant. Above, the whole grand mechanism of the circle shifted and clicked into place, and yet another Heart Crystal met its end. She stared at Nabiki for a long moment, taking in the very drastic changes that had been made to her form. "Na... Nabiki," she managed at last.

Nabiki followed Akane's gaze up to the vast, membranous wings that grew up out of her shoulders and grinned. "It's a bold look, I admit. But I don't think you're in any position to complain about it."

Considering the black star on her forehead and the way her hair moved and shifted like a living thing, Mistress 9 found she didn't entirely disagree. Still, it was a shock to see Nabiki like ... this. Wings, pale skin, red eyes, the inhuman air...

"I've heard all sorts of odd things about you lately, little sister," Nabiki went on. She looked at the summoning circle, and at the floating spiral of heart crystals, then back to Akane. Her movements were different - reptilian, almost. Sinuous and powerful and cold. Her eyes were harder, sharper, like blood flash-frozen at the moment of gushing forth from a severed artery. Her skin, like the Nightmare Life-in-Death, was pale as leprosy. "You've made enemies in high places. Do you have any idea just how many people want you dead?"

A vast shadowy mass shifted near the entrance to the chamber, but Mistress 9 paid it little mind. "What happened to you?" she asked. An unfamiliar smell clung to Nabiki, like sewage mixed with battery acid, damp earth, and growing things.

"I met a man," Nabiki said, her tone exaggeratedly breathless, "and he showed me all sorts of wonderful things about the world." The breathlessness faded into a cold, empty tone as she went on, "Terrible things. Things that would snap your mind like a twig and send you off screaming until your throat bled. Do you want to see?"

Mistress 9 met Nabiki's gaze, cold, imperious, unmoved. Beneath the surface, the chemical soup of human emotions bubbled unheeded in the corners of her mind, yet it was a strange thing, like the blurry field of vision around a pair of glasses; present, but easily dismissed. "Not impressed," she said flatly. "Do you know who you're dealing with, Nabiki? Do you think you're going to scare me?"

"Is it true you killed mom?" Nabiki asked, changing tactics. She looked towards the shadowy mass at the entrance to the chamber, and her expression hardened, though not before Mistress 9 caught a flash of regret in her eyes. "Well," Nabiki went on, "I guess I've one-upped you there."

The shadowy mass shambled forward into the light: vast, shapeless, tenebrous, congeries of black protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, like an amoeba made of luminescent black tar. All across its surface, eyes formed and unformed as pustules of greenish light – eyes, and faces too, forming and unforming across its vast bulk.

Soun Tendo's unmarred face, every one of them, each of them weeping and gurgling piteously.

The chemical soup pulsed and quickened. That old familiar fury rose up within her, but Mistress 9's mind had become a cold, strange, alien thing, full of unexpected angles. She looked upon the being that had once been Soun, and though there was an edge of anger to her voice when she spoke, it was nowhere near what it might have been otherwise. "What have you done, Nabiki?"

--------------------

"It's not in you anymore, is it?" Ranma asked.

Soichi looked at her piteously. He was more like a skeleton than a man, wasted away by his experiences from a healthy middle aged man to something frail and old: something that hardly looked alive. "In... no." His voice was painfully hoarse, like a man who had not a drop to drink for days. He swallowed convulsively. "I'm back, aren't I?"

Ranma's heart was moved to pity. "I guess," she replied. "Wanna tell me who ya are?"

"Soichi... Tomoe. I think that was my name. I..." His voice dropped down to an insistent whisper. "I lost something."

"I'm sorry."

"You... can you help me find her? I..." his gaze seemed to clear. "She's dead," he said simply. "She's been dead all this time. God, how long have I been looking for her? How many years...?"

Ranma wasn't sure what to say. She had never been good at this emotional stuff, and though her heart went out to the man, she had bigger things to worry about than some guy who had been possessed, didn't she? ... Didn't she?

'It is the duty of a martial artist to defend the weak.'

It was Genma's voice, fainter than before, and coming once more as if from far away. She had ignored it before, but here, now, face to face with a man who had been utterly broken, she found that she just didn't have it in her to ignore that voice a second time.

She put a hand awkwardly on the man's tattered shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said lamely.

Soichi burst into tears and embraced the sailor suited soldier of Saturn. Ranma tensed for a moment, tensed at this invasion of her personal space; But this was no Amazon glomp. This man was hugging her like she was family. That, if anything, made her even more uncomfortable. For Ranma, physical contact had always been something to be avoided: a thing associated with attacks, whether they be punches, kicks, or throws. This was different.

Extremely uncomfortable and completely unable to relax, Ranma patted the man's shoulder awkwardly, wondering what to do.

A purple light sprang up around them, and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, everything changed.

FLASH

Ranma blinked. The whole world was blurred, and she couldn't focus on anything. Stale, clinical sort of lights whirled above her. She couldn't move. She couldn't even lift her head. But she could cry, and cry she did, wailing like a baby... like a... exactly like a baby.

A kind face looked down on her, and instinctively she knew it was someone important. "Welcome to the world, Hotaru-chan," a voice said lovingly.

In spite of herself, she stopped crying at once.

FLASH

She was wearing pink dungarees and a white t-shirt, and the whole world looked off. Everything was far larger than it should have been. At her feet was a broken flower pot, dirt and water sprayed across the floor, flowers lying limply on the tile.

"Hotaru!" A man's voice called.

She looked up. Soichi was standing at the doorway, looking shocked.

"Papa!" she squeaked, the word coming out involuntarily. Then she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror on the wall, and she nearly fainted: she was a six year old girl with short black hair and purple eyes.

FLASH

She laughed delightedly as she raced across the meadow, the crackle of the summer grass announcing her passage to her father, and to anyone else who cared to listen for it. "You can't find me!" she cried aloud as she ducked behind an old fallen log that lay at the edge of the meadow, too young to understand that in yelling out, she had given her position away.

Soichi smiled as he trod across the dry, brown field, grass crackling beneath his shoes with each step. "Now where could Hotaru-chan have gone?" he wondered aloud, although he could see her quite clearly.

"Here I am!" she called, standing up from behind the log.

He laughed.

FLASH

On and on it went, one after another, the memories of a childhood Ranma had never had. The life of a girl named Hotaru Tomoe. The good times and the bad, the highs and the lows, from birth until the day that Soichi had taken her to work with him. It ended there, with her watching his grand experiment through a glass wall, a strange sense of anticipation in the air.

The light faded. The vision ended. Six years in a few seconds. Ranma reeled at the intensity of it. She looked up at the haggard man before her in wonder, unsure of what to say or do.

Soichi smiled, and his expression was peaceful. Silence hung between them for a long moment before he spoke. "You're her, aren't you?" he asked.

Ranma didn't know what to say. "I..." she began, and trailed off.

"I'm glad," Soichi said. "I'm glad I got to meet you. To see..." He collapsed suddenly, and Ranma staggered beneath the sudden weight of his body, catching her balance at the last moment.

She lowered him to the ground, staring at him in a state of alarm. His ki pathways didn't look good. The light of his life force was fading with each breath.

"I... I'm so very tired," he said, and he sounded it. "But I'm awake. Thank you for that, Hotaru-chan."

Ranma struggled with herself for a long moment, forcing the unwanted, unwelcome memories back from the forefront of her mind. She looked down at Soichi as one in a dream. At last she found her voice. "The name's Ranma, old man." Her words were harsh. Her tone wasn't.

Soichi looked closely at Ranma, seeing her as if for the first time. "Ranma, huh?" He seemed to sink into himself. He took a deep, ragged breath. "That's a strange name," he managed. He took another belabored breath. "Ranma," he said again, and there was a note of deep sadness in his voice. He took another deep, terrible breath, and then he simply... stopped.

She stared at his body for a long moment.

Soichi Tomoe was dead.

Ranma looked up.

Standing there, some twenty feet down the corridor, was Sailor Pluto, garnet orb in one hand, staff in the other, a sad look on her face.

"Pluto," Ranma said, surprised. There were a hundred things she wanted to ask the other Senshi. Why had she shown her the life of a girl she would never be? Why had she shown it to Soichi, too? What did it mean? On an on, questions beyond count, each more troubling than the last. But she didn't ask any of those. What she actually did ask was, "Why aren't you with Uranus and Neptune?" Immediately, she wished she had asked one of the other questions, but it was too late to take it back now.

Pluto met Ranma's gaze. "Uranus and Neptune have their path, and I have mine. My place was here, now."

Ranma looked down at Soichi's dead body. "Why'd ya show me all that?" she asked quietly.

Again, silence. Beat after beat passed with no answer, and Ranma could hear the beating of her own heart in the hallway.

Finally, Pluto spoke. "Sailor Saturn," she said, her voice thick with unexpressed emotion. "Do you think you can love someone, or miss someone, from a life you never lived? A life that might have been, perhaps should have been, but wasn't?"

Ranma studied Pluto's face for a long moment, looking for some hint of why she would ask this question. Finding none, she shrugged helplessly, not at all sure what to think.

Silence.

"Why?" Ranma asked after a beat or two.

It was there for a split second and then gone, almost too quick to notice. In that moment, Ranma could have sworn that she saw a look of regret, and of love, in Pluto's eyes. It was gone.

"Come," Sailor Pluto said. "It is time for you to face your destiny."

Ranma rose to her feet and scooped up the Silence Glaive from where it had fallen. "Right," she said, disappointed by Pluto's evasion, and really, really creeped out by the memories of the early life of one Hotaru Tomoe. The images she had seen were settling down into a far flung corner of her brain. Already the specifics were hard to recall, and they were fading. She looked closely at Pluto again, and a thought came to her suddenly, and she voiced it aloud: "How would it have gone?" It was an old question – a question that brought with it old memories, and the skies over Nemesis. "That other life, I mean."

There it was again – there and gone. Regret mixed with mother-love denied.

Pluto began to walk away down the corridor, and after a moment, Ranma followed.

-------------

Nabiki turned at last to survey the creature that had once been Soun Tendo, taking in its blasphemous curves and eye-wrenching angles in one contemptuous sweep of the eyes. It was fast. Almost too fast.

"Don't turn your back on me, Nabiki," Mistress 9 said.

Nabiki turned to face her sister. "Or what? You'll take my heart crystal?" She glanced up at the revolving spiral just in time to see another crystal shatter with a pulse of light. "Or will you tell daddy on me?" her gaze shifted momentarily towards the Thing behind her. "Oh wait. Your other daddy, then. Your real daddy." She twisted the word 'daddy' when she spoke it, uttering it with ever greater contempt.

Alien mind or not, NOW she was angry. Mistress 9 looked at the thing that had been Soun Tendo, her lips curling into something approaching an inhuman snarl. "Ryouga," she said. "Come to me."

With a faint pop of displaced air, the Daimonically possessed Lost Boy appeared at Akane's side. He looked around, taking in the situation.

"That's the best you can do? That's your knight in shining armour? Ryouga?"

Ryouga glared at Nabiki. "Hey! Don't insult someone who's been summoned to kill you!"

"Right," Nabiki drawled. She snapped her fingers. At her signal, a dozen Deep Ones rushed in from around Soun's vast bulk, tridents in hand.

Ryouga cracked his knuckles and grinned.

--------------

They wended their way through the dark corridors of Mugen Gakuen, streamers of mist flowing all around them. Onward and onwards they went, with classrooms appearing suddenly out of the mist on their right and their left like ghosts and fading away behind them just as quickly. Empty classrooms, every one. A stray backpack. A folder. Silence. Their own breathing seemed deafening: their own footsteps the thundering footfalls of giants.

Usagi gave Endymion a nervous look.

Endymion's eyes were hard as diamonds as he surveyed their surroundings, but he still took the time to give her an encouraging nod.

At the forefront of their little band, Mercury walked at Venus's side, mini-computer in hand. The glow of it cast strange shadows across her face. "Turn left at the next intersection," she whispered, and even the whisper seemed loud.

The florescent lights flickered, and the scent of human waste wafted through the corridor. Usagi tried very hard not to stare at the scuff marks and faint streaks of some brown substance across the floor of the corridor.

They turned left, and as they did, the distant sounds of fighting began to filter through the silence, filling it slowly at first, then with ever growing intensity. Usagi and the Senshi exchanged glances.

"Minna," Usagi said, "If we don't stop the Death Busters here..."

Mars nodded her understanding. "We know, Usagi. We won't fail."

Venus voiced her agreement. "It's time to do what we always do, minna." she said, and in her voice was the power and dignity of a leader.

The others looked her way. "What do we always do, Minako-chan?" Usagi asked.

"Save the day," Venus replied, smiling faintly.

As one, the Senshi strode down the hallway towards the door to the summoning chamber.

------------------

Explosions rocked the summoning chamber as Ryouga did battle with the Deep Ones. He ducked to the side of the first blast and it struck the statue of the Messiah of Silence behind him, sending shrapnel spraying in all directions. The next three blasts he took on the chin - dodging had never been Ryouga's strong point, and daimonic possession had done little to help him in that regard. He came charging out of the ensuing explosion with all the grace and subtlety of a mad bull, and his first punch blasted a Deep One clear into the far wall, where it cratered spectacularly.

Akane and Nabiki faced off, neither one willing to make the first move. Chaos swirled all around them, blasts of energy flying every which way, with Akane's hair writhing in an unseen wind and Nabiki's blood red eyes glowing balefully.

It was Akane who broke the standoff. She'd never been the patient one. Her hair whipped out across the space between them like a mass of black snakes, binding Nabiki in place, wrapping around her arms, her legs, her throat.

Akane looked disappointed. "Too easy," she said. "But you never were much of a fighter."

Nabiki smirked. "And you never were very bright."

Akane felt that familiar rage rise up within her again - the rage that had told her she was being impaired by Ranma's arrival in Nerima, the rage that had directed her mallet on many, many occasions, that very human rage - and squeezed.

Nabiki's head tore off, her body broke apart into smoke, and she was gone.

Akane had time to look confused for a split second before Nabiki slammed into her from behind, shoulder first. She went sprawling heavily and slid across the summoning circle.

Tick. The circle rotated. Another heart crystal went up in a burst of light.

Akane rose to her feet, glaring furiously at her yet living sister. "An illusion?" she spat. She'd KNOWN it had been too easy. Well, this wasn't over yet. She performed a quick kipup and turned to face her sister, her eyes full of the promise of death.

"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" came a muffled cry. A moment later, the far door to the chamber exploded inwards in a shower of sparks, flying right off its hinges and skidding ten meters across the floor. Ryouga looked up just in time to see the door come flying at him before it struck him with a tremendous clang and flung him into the base of the statue of the Messiah of Silence.

Silhouetted against the lights of the corridor, the sailor suited soldiers stepped forward.

"Death Busters!" Usagi announced, her gaze taking in the whole room. We won't allow you to summon your master. This is our world, and we will fight for it with all our strength! A soldier of Love and Justice, I am Serenity."

"Sailor Venus!"

"Sailor Mercury!"

"Sailor Mars!"

"Sailor Jupiter!"

"In the name of the moon, we'll punish you!"

Combat paused for a long moment as the three sides - Death Buster, Chaos Spawn, and Silver Moon - faced off against each other.

Nabiki shook her head incredulously. "Daddy, I have a task for you," she said.

The great, shifting mass that had been Soun Tendo half slithered, half bubbled out of the dark corner it had been waiting in, his faces forming and unforming across its vast bulk.

"Kill them," she said, and gestured dismissively.

The thing that had been Soun charged, and each of the Senshi scattered in a different direction: the great mass smashed through what was left of the door and into the corridor beyond before shifting its front to its back and coming around for another pass.

Usagi stared in horror. "It... it's a person!" she said even as Mars leaped clear of a projected pseudopod and Venus blasted it with a Crescent Beam.

Meanwhile, several of the Deep Ones simply dogpiled on Ryouga, biting and clawing and kicking him as he went down beneath them... which got them exactly where he wanted them.

"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" he yelled, and drive his finger into the floor.

An explosion of dust and shrapnel reduced the Deep Ones to so much bloody pulp. Ryouga rose to his feet a moment later, totally unharmed, gore streaming off his body, and grinning savagely.

The survivors drew back and clutched their tridents nervously.

"Is that all you got?" Ryouga asked contemptuously.

A volley of green blasts was his answer.

Across the chamber, Usagi and the others were hard at work distracting the Shoggoth while Mercury took a reading on it with her computer, standing well back from the main action of the battle. Jupiter took a pseudopod to the stomach, and screamed in horror as the thing began to absorb her into itself... only to be freed a moment later by a well placed magical rose shattered the magic of the absorption process and flung a nauseous Sailor Jupiter back away from the beast.

"Don't let it touch you!" Mars yelled. "It can kill with a touch!"

Jupiter staggered to her feet, shaken and trying not to vomit. "Woulda... been helpful to know... before," she groused.

Mercury's computer beeped, and she looked down at the screen. She took an involuntary step back. "It's human. Or was, before it was transformed. Sailor Moon, we'll pin it down, and once it's in place, you heal it!"

The battle plan was set. The Senshi moved into action. The creature shifted surprisingly easily on its vast bulk, sending vast swathes of pseudopod at whichever Senshi it wasn't actively charging, which made corralling it a difficult proposition at best.

"Mars Fire Snake!" Mars incanted, calling down a circle of flames around the bulk of the Soun-Shoggoth, light and head burning high.

It burst through the flames like they were nothing, leaving Mars with just enough time to look surprised before...

Tuxedo Kamen swept by, swinging on a rope taken from the support of the statue of the Messiah of Silence, scooping Mars up into his arms and out of danger even as the Shoggoth rumbled through the space she had just occupied.

"Thanks," she said, barely daring to breathe.

He nodded.

"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!" Venus called out, and links of golden hearts flowed out and around the beast, binding it in place. "NOW!" she yelled.

"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"

"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"

The Shoggoth collapsed, denting the floor as its bulk smashed down uncontrolled, unsupported.

Usagi brandished the Crescent Moon Wand. "MOON HEALING ESCALATION!" she cried. Waves of healing power flowed out across the tortured form of the beast that had been Soun Tendo, and it began to melt - not into a human form, but into nothing. When the darkness and corruption was removed, there was nothing beneath it. The mask concealed the absence of a thing.

Usagi cut off the flow of magic and stared at the half-melted beast in open-mouthed horror. "Why... why isn't it becoming human?"

This could be a problem.

-------------

Nabiki felt her heart fall out of her chest as she saw Sailor Moon's healing attempt totally, utterly fail to restore her father to his self. It wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth it. The Dark Man had lied. The Dark Man had lied! DAMNIT! Her eyes shone with inhuman intensity, her wings flexed and unflexed, and her innards seemed to shift strangely within her. Then came the fear - the walls were coming down in the face of her despair, and a sense of Presence gathered around the middle Tendo sister, a quivering fear external to the minds of those who felt it, flowing out across the chamber in rotting waves.

Akane was not impressed. "Where are you looking, baka?" she called tauntingly, blasting Nabiki to the ground with a pulse of eldritch energy.

Pain ripped through her body, and she shoved it down into a deep, dark corner of her awareness. Pain was flesh. Flesh was transitory. Flesh didn't matter now. Smoke rising from her form, Nabiki arose and glared balefully at her sister. "Put a little more effort into it next time, Akane. I think that tickled a little." It was foolish, yes, but necessary. Akane needed to be mad. Nabiki needed her to be mad. Everything depended on that.

With her one great hope dashed and her other fading quickly, Nabiki Tendo threw herself into battle once more.

--------------

It was nearly over now in the world outside of Mugen Gakuen. The ancient powers were well and truly awake, yet in this most desperate, final hour, humanity proved its worth. Man and woman fought desperately against the dying of the light, knowing they were doomed, knowing that they could barely stand to look at their foes without the risk of madness, they stood and fought. And fell. Humanity unaided could not stand against the rise of the Spawn of Chaos.

In the skies over New York, a squadron of F-16 fighter jets bore down on a tremendous, sentient ball of nuclear fire. Missiles were launched, and vanished into the flames with nary a disturbance of the celestial sphere; Cthuga scarcely noticed as his fire-vampires swarmed out from their places upon his fiery form. The fighter pilots noticed. They had time to scream before the rain of living embers sheared through their planes like they were made of tissue paper, setting the metal itself ablaze through supernatural might even as others tore through the cockpits, turning the pilots into living pyres which burned bright and brief. There and gone: such is the human condition.

At the South Pole, a vast, incomprehensible power stirred. Awakened by the taint of Chaos, the First of Lilith's Children opened his eyes and beheld the astonished faces of human scientists, and he was greatly angered.

Ten minutes later, Antarctica exploded, and a little girl on a liferaft - the daughter of the head of the expedition - screamed in horror of what she saw in that moment.

It was a surprisingly common reaction that day. A scream of horror. A scream for innocence lost. A scream for sudden, unwanted understanding. A scream for all the piles of rotting leaves in all the gutters of the world.

Rome burned. The Vatican burned. The Pope lay dead in Saint Peter's Square, and all around his body were flames and chaos. Mecca vanished, the whole city falling into a great sinkhole as the burrowers beneath ate out the foundations of the very heart of the Moselm world. Cities burned across the whole face of the Earth. Some fared better than others. The European Union, under UNIT's watchful umbrella, fared best of all. They'd had some experience with this sort of thing in the past, and it served them well in the present. But even there, things did not go well. Even there, the price was higher than any were willing to pay.

Yet it was paid. Drop of blood by drop of blood, humanity paid it.

--------------

When Saturn and Pluto finally met up with Uranus and Neptune at the entrance to the summoning chamber, the battle within was winding down to its conclusion. The Guardian Senshi, unwilling to destroy what was left of Soun Tendo, were now reduced to simply trying to evade it. That was a game that the Shoggoth would win, even half melted as it was. They simply did not have the reserves of stamina necessary to wear out the great beast. It was at this point only a matter of time before one of them was killed by the thing.

Ryouga, having slain the remaining Deep Ones, had lent his assistance to Akane in her battle against Nabiki, turning a somewhat even fight into a totally one-sided one. The moment the Outer Senshi entered the summoning chamber, two things happened: the first was that Nabiki took a full strength blow to the stomach and went flying backwards into the statue of the Messiah of Silence, which collapsed on top of her from the force of the impact, the whole wreck drenched in rotting, external Fear; the second was that the great summoning circle shifted, and the second to last heart crystal was consumed in a tremendous flare of light.

There was a shimmering above the place where the heart crystals had been destroyed now - a sense of shifting and warping that twisted the eye. Somewhere beyond that, a vast, lurking presence waited impatiently, knowing that its time was nigh.

Into this scene, the Outer Senshi arrived.

Pluto nodded to Saturn.

The pig-tailed Senshi leaped into the air, Silence Glaive in hand, moving straight towards the thing that had been Soun Tendo.

Usagi looked up, her eyes wide, "NO, YOU CAN'T...!"

"SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE!" Saturn incanted as she came down, blade first.

The Glaive bisected the Shoggoth from top to bottom. The ground cracked in a sphere-shape around Saturn's feet, a pulse of horrific purple energy rippled out from her body, and all sound failed for a split second as the top half of the building exploded even as the final crystal snapped into place and vanished in a flash of light.

When vision returned to the combatants, the ceiling and everything above it was simply gone, as was the Shoggoth that had been Soun Tendo. The summoning chamber was now on the top floor of the building. All eyes were fixed upon Saturn and the other Soldiers of the Outer Solar System.

"This is over, Akane," Saturn said, glaring at the girl from across the room. "If ya give up now, we can probably find a way ta heal ya, but we ain't lettin' ya bring the whole world down around you."

"Sailor Saturn..." Usagi whispered, staring at the place where the Shoggoth had been. A tear traced its line down her cheek.

But Akane was not ready to surrender. No, the very thought of surrender was laughable. She had won. She laughed out loud. "The summoning is done, dummy. What do you think you can do? Look!"

Above the summoning circle, where once had been a faint shimmering, now there was an angry reddish crack running through the sky itself from one side of the building to another, and it was spreading. Soon it vanished into the distance in both directions, and the aether itself trembled.

"Pharaoh 90 won't have this world, Mistress 9," Pluto said determinedly as she, Uranus, and Neptune stepped out in front of Saturn. "Surrender, or be destroyed."

Saturn looked surprised at that, but said nothing.

Ryouga cracked his knuckles and stepped forward. "Well, well. Look who's hiding behind a bunch of girls," he said. "I hope you're ready for round 2, Ranma, because I've been looking forward to this all day." His aura flared, and a deadly pink light sprang up around him...

"DEEP SUBMERGE!"

"WORLD SHAKING!"

"Dead Scream."

The first two shouted, the last whispered, and the last the deadliest of all. The three ringed spheres of energy merged in mid-flight into one multicoloured orb which struck Ryouga full force and exploded violently, raining down... parts. A hand here. A foot there. A pieces of head across the floor. Blood everywhere.

Blood everywhere.

Ryouga was dead.

Saturn stared in open-mouthed shock. Ryouga. RYOUGA was dead. RYOUGA WAS DEAD.

Akane, the Inner Senshi, Saturn, all of them stared in shock. Silence filled the room for a long moment.

Then came a distant rumble, from the deepest depths to the highest heights. Then came the beginning of the end. Reddish cracks spider-webbed across the sky from the central line.

Akane sank to her knees, looking utterly lost. "Ryouga..." she whispered. "Ryouga. Ryouga...!" The rage Nabiki had worked so hard to kindle mingled with grief, her very human emotions battling with the film of Pharaoh 90's influence that lay draped across her mind. The balance tipped one way, then the other. She screamed, and power flared violently around her.

She caught Saturn's gaze, and everything seemed to stop. Saturn's face - Ranma's face - mirrored her own feelings.

Silent tears began to flow down Saturn's cheeks as she stared into Akane's eyes, the whole world forgotten around them. The whole world became the two of them; two hearts meeting for one terrible moment. In the midst of chaos and death, two hearts were united in grief and pain.

Even as Akane looked upon Sailor Saturn, even in the midst of her grief and her rage, she felt an irresistible upwelling of love for the pig-tailed girl: a fierce, desperate love born of need and loss, desire and hope. Pharaoh 90's alien influence, repelled by the power of love, grief, and anger, popped like a soap bubble. Light stirred in Akane's eyes, and she stared at Saturn in wonder.

"Ranma..." she whispered.

Usagi and her Guardian Senshi strode forward to meet Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. "I don't approve," she said, and her eyes were full of anger mixed with horror in equal measure.

Pluto met her Queen's gaze. "I know," she said simply. "I'm sorry." She looked as though she was going to say more, but at that moment, the sky split open at the seams. The whole vast expanse of heaven unfurled to reveal a terrible, empty, ABSENCE, bordered by angry red light, its raw, jagged edges crackling with power. The Abyss looked down upon the planet Earth, and madness came whirling in its wake; dark power pulsed within its maw like the heartbeat of the Universe.

Out of the Audient Void, an horrific THING descended upon the city, emerging from the womb of the Void in a grotesque parody of human birth, dripping with entropic eddies, globular yet writhing on every part of its surface. Vast tentacles flailed about its body, and a single great eye opened in the very center of its globular mass, bathing the ruined building in its malevolent red glow; its gaze was fixed upon Sailor Saturn.

On her alone.

Pharaoh 90 had arrived.

END CHAPTER 17

-------------

Author's notes:

It's been a while. Have been absurdly busy with graduate school.


	19. Reflections of Ruin

She fell. Through fire and darkness, she fell. She could feel His presence burning like a star in the sky, but that was far away. Something was crushing her. Something was covering her. She fell through the floor, and the floor stood firm. Her mind flowed in a thousand different directions at once. Distantly, she was aware of rising to her feet, the rubble of the statue of the Messiah of Silence tumbling off of her, but it was far from the center of her awareness.

Nabiki Tendo was once again fighting for her very existence.

Despair had opened doors that ought not to have been opened, and the inhumanity of the mind that she had merged with poured into her fortress of Self like a whirlwind.

Everything she had tried to do. Everything she had sacrificed. It had all failed. Dad was dead. Serenity had tried to heal him and the healing had only destroyed what it touched. Then Ranma had finished the job. Ranma.

She had failed. Utterly failed. Nabiki Tendo had gambled and lost, and now the world would pay.

Her body mutated visibly as she writhed in agony on the bed of rubble and shattered stone; terrible gaping mouths opened and closed across her flesh, her hair fused into slime-covered tentacles with terrible jagged teeth, her eyes burst and reformed again and again, and long streaks of gore-filled tears poured down her cheeks. Her hands itched; the itching became a ripping, a tearing, and two mouths with long distended tongues and razor-sharp teeth split open where her palms had been. Her wings stretched and billowed in silent wind, yet for all this, she did not scream. She couldn't afford the distraction.

Her very self was on the line. Again.

For even worse than the pain of mutation and the despair of having utterly failed was the sheer Hunger that rose up in her breast. The Need. The Need to rut and consume and defile. She knew that it went back to the Thing which had sired the creature that she'd merged with. The Thing which she had become.

And she knew it's name. She knew it's name. In spite of herself, in spite of knowing better than to speak the name of such a thing, even ten thousand years dead, the words were half-formed on her lips before she could stop herself:

"Y'Gol..."

--------------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 18 – Reflections of Ruin

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

--------------------

Akane stared up helplessly at Sailor Saturn as, high above, Pharaoh 90 continued his descent. If she had looked up, with the light of her Father's great eye pouring down on them mingled with the fires of reentry, the Thing would have looked like a large, bright red star.

All that she had done under the influence of her Father flashed before her mind.

She saw Ryouga screaming as the essence of a Daimon poured down his throat, transforming him into... something else. She watched as the humanity faded from his eyes. Watched as her connection to him snapped into place, and she knew him - what he had become.

She saw Ryouga splattering into a thousand pieces before the combined assault of the Soldiers of the Outer Solar System. Gore spraying everywhere.

She saw herself lying to him. Making him think that Ranma had raped her.

She saw Ranma's grief-stricken face. She felt once again the need to BE Ranma. To possess her body in the same way that she possessed her own. It all made sense now, in retrospect. Her possessiveness. Her jealousy. Not that it excused any of it. Had it all been a lie? Had it all been because of her nature? Was there anything she had that wasn't because of what she was?

She remembered Mount Phoenix. She remembered her own helplessness. She remembered Ranma's words of love.

She saw the consumption of a thousand souls to feed her appetite, a thousand souls to summon the Thing that had spawned her.

She saw what she had done to her own mother.

The sheer Presence of her Father high above beat down oppressively on her mind, but this time it found no purchase. Just as grief, horror, and despair had weakened Nabiki, so had it strengthened Akane. She would not let it happen again. Never again.

She screamed, but no sound came forth. Three times she screamed silent screams, three times her voice failed to sound.

Her muteness broke.

The fourth scream was full-voiced, and contained within it was the death of everything she had ever loved. Her vision faded in and out, each pulsing from dark to light in time with the throbbing of her heart.

She felt arms around her.

Akane looked up, her whole body wracked with great, shuddering sobs.

Saturn's arms, wrapping her up in a fierce embrace. She met Saturn's gaze. Ranma's gaze. Ranma's gaze, shimmering with tears and love and fear. "Ranma..." she said.

"Come back, tomboy," Ranma whispered into her hair.

The intensity of grief faded. The horror faded. The guilt faded. They were still there, but they paled to the importance of this: there, at the end of everything, looking into the eyes of Sailor Saturn, Akane felt... loved.

Loved.

-----------------

At length, Sailor Saturn rose to her feet. She squeezed Akane's hand. She didn't need to say 'I love you:' Akane knew.

Above them, Pharaoh 90's bulbous form shone in the night sky like a great red star, growing larger and larger as it descended.

... it was writhing.

Saturn hefted the Silence Glaive.

Akane looked up, black star emblazoned on her forehead, long, dark hair fanning out behind her like a cloak. It hung limply now, utterly inert. Not even the wind touched it, held as it was in total, unnatural stillness. "My father comes," she said, and her voice was filled with resignation.

The flames of reentry dissipated around Pharaoh 90's great bulk, and its horrible mass unfurled in the skies above the remnants of Minato-ku.

Mars stood forth. She had seen this before. She met Saturn's gaze. "Saturn, no! PLEASE! I know it looks dark, but you can't destroy the whole world!"

Saturn met Mars's desperate gaze, and slowly lowered the Silence Glaive. "Find me another way," she said.

Mars looked to Usagi, and Usagi nodded.

"Gather round, minna," the Queen said. "We're going to stop this monster once and for all."

One by one, each of Neo-Queen Serenity's Guardian Senshi gathered round her, hands joined. They stood in a circle, Usagi, Rei, Minako, Makoto, Ami. A moment later, Mamoru joined them.

Light sprang up around them all at once.

"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER!" Venus chanted, the white light around her flaring golden like the morning of the world.

"MERCURY STAR POWER!" Mercury's own light shifted blue.

"MARS CRYSTAL POWER!" Fiery light sprang up around Sailor Mars, and her countenance was the very image of the goddess of war.

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!" Lightning crackled; the green power of Wood mingled with the power of Zeus's thunderbolts joined the greater whole.

Bits of debris began to float up into the air as power roiled off of the figures in the circle.

Endymion held open his hand, and a brilliant, shining golden gem manifested there within. "Golden Crystal Power," he whispered. The power of the Earth flowed through him, lighting up all around him as a gentle golden aura.

"MOON COSMIC POWER!" Usagi cried, her aura no longer pink, but now a brilliant, pure white.

As one, the five goddesses and one god broke contact with one another, power whirling around them, each pointing their cupped hands towards the descending bulk of Pharaoh 90. And as one they incanted, "SAILOR PLANET ATTACK!"

Streams of nearly unimaginable power flowed out from the group, one for each participant. Beams of brilliant gold, blue, green, red, and white joined in their cupped hands for a split second. Then a tremendous blast of multicoloured energy shot directly upwards, straight for Pharaoh 90.

From the center of the black, writhing mass came a note deeper and crueler than the foundations of the Earth. Terrible red energy flowed down from the Great Eye of Pharaoh 90 and met the combined efforts of Serenity's court midway to its target. Met... and repelled.

The eyes of each Guardian Senshi widened.

The red pulse of energy flowed downwards onto them. There was a terrible flash, a crack like thunder, and roiling sense of Incomprehensible Other.

Each let out a scream of pain as they flew into the air. There they remained, floating several meters off the floor, gravity itself undone around them as the rules of the ordered universe retreated before the sheer alien otherness of Pharaoh 90's power.

-------------

Pharaoh 90 hovered now only a few hundred meters above Mugen Gakuen, vast tentacles flailing about its body, its single great eye bathing the whole roof in its malevolent red glow.

The Guardian Senshi had been defeated: the Outer Senshi would now show their quality.

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto each nodded. Words were unnecessary.

"DEEP SUBMERGE!" Neptune cried out, sending a ringed sphere of aquamarine energy up to splash harmlessly against Pharaoh 90's writhing carapace.

The eye shifted to her, and for a brief moment, she felt the full force of Pharaoh 90's awareness beating down upon her mind.

"Dead Scream," Sailor Pluto whispered. A moment later, her own ringed sphere of purple energy detonated equally harmlessly against Pharaoh 90.

The eye's gaze fell upon her.

But it had not noticed Uranus, who, even as the other two fired off their attacks, leaped upwards, space sword in hand, taking advantage of the altered conditions of local gravity. Up she soared, her short hair flowing in the wind. Up, up, and up; when Pharaoh 90 finally noticed her, it was too late.

"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!" she screamed. Intensely bright light blossomed around the blade of her sword, and there, a speck before the vast bulk of the Great Old One, she planted her blade in the Thing's great, central eye.

It sank in with a sickening splurch, and there was an explosion of light and power as her power detonated **inside the eye** of Pharaoh 90.

Gore rained down on her, and upon the rooftop, and for a moment, all was silent.

Then a sound came forth from the globular mass like the crack of doom, filled with such deep, pulsing hatred that Uranus's heart nearly failed her then and there.

The great eye dimmed, but all across Pharaoh 90's body, eyes glowing with brilliant, malevolent red light sprouted open, and every single one of them fixed upon Sailor Uranus.

A thousand pulses of red energy shot out of the globular mass and into Uranus, flinging her down into the roof with the force of a freight train. She cratered massively at the center of what had been the summoning circle, and the pulses of energy followed her down. Her body jerked and writhed as the pulses seared and burned everywhere they touched, searing through flesh and bone and tissue like the fires of Hell itself.

"URANUS!" Neptune screamed, rushing to her lover's side.

She was still alive. Her body was utterly ruined, but she was still alive, bones gleaming in Pharaoh 90's light, her ribcage halfway exposed, the flesh cauterized all around it, her hair burned to ash, her flesh burned down to the skull on the right side of her face, her eyes wide and staring as she took breath after shuddering breath.

Neptune stared down in horror at the broken form of her lover, and Usagi and all the still floating Guardian Senshi did the same.

--------------

Nabiki rose to her feet, her body mutated almost beyond recognition. Her eyes were bleeding sockets, yet she found that she could still see. She could taste through her hands. Through all of her mouths. She staggered out of the pile of rubble and looked upon the Guardian Senshi.

Bloodied. Battered.

She watched as Usagi gently settled down onto the ground.

She watched as Neptune wept over the ruined form of Uranus.

She wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. Presently, she realized that her mouths were babbling, screaming, laughing. She clamped them all shut and shuddered.

"Is this the way the world ends?" she murmured, not expecting an answer. Each of her mouths echoed the question, a chorus of her own voice, each altered subtly by the shape of the mouth, the tongues, the teeth, but each unmistakably her own.

She remembered. She remembered the end of her Father on Nemesis, so long ago. She didn't want to. She didn't want to feel what he had done to everything that had lived there. More than anything else, she didn't want to **like**it so much. She remembered, nonetheless. She remembered how Sailor Saturn had brought down the Silence Glaive upon her body. Her father's body. Ending Y'Golonac forever.

History repeats itself. History is cyclical. She looked upon Sailor Saturn. She looked upon Akane.

This is the way the world ends.

---------------

Far away, at the Nekohanten, Cologne peered out the window into the ruined streets of Nerima. She, Mousse, and Shampoo had fought long and hard to keep this place safe, and it was here that the last survivors of the ward had gathered. Outside, Things gibbered and writhed in the darkness. Things which had learned to walk which ought to crawl.

She had never felt her age as deeply as she did here, now.

Her aged body was scored with wounds, and Shampoo had fared not much better.

Mousse lay bleeding to death in the corner. Kasumi was tending to his injuries, but as much as she had learned from Doctor Tofu, she was no doctor. She could do little save make him comfortable.

"They stop attacking," Shampoo said in broken Japanese, her voice hoarse and strained. "Too, too good. Maybe they go away? Maybe we convince them we too much trouble?"

Cologne shook her head. "No. Can't you sense it, child? We have reached the hour of doom. Son-in-law is fighting for us now..." She trailed off. "I feel... a star is dying. A star is being born." Wearily, she pogoed over to one of the few intact tables remaining in the restaurant and slid down into the seat opposite of Nodoka.

Nodoka grasped a cup of tea between trembling hands. She gave a start as Cologne sat down next to her and spilled hot tea on the table. "Oh," she said. "Oh, Elder. It's you."

Cologne poured herself a cup of tea and took a long, slow sip.

Nodoka sat silently beside her, staring into her half-full teacup between trembling hands, watching the curls of steam rising from it.

"This isn't how I imagined meeting my end," Cologne said. "But there is worse company than this to die in. Your son is a credit to you, Saotome-san."

Nodoka looked up, meeting the Elder's gaze with her own, and inwardly, Cologne winced. Nodoka's eyes were dull. Lifeless. She looked like a woman looking upon the end of everything.

She was.

A little bit of life returned to her at the mention of Ranma.

Try as she might, Cologne found that she didn't have the heart to say anything else. Everything was tumbling down into the abyss. Nodoka had seen the death of her husband, and the death of her husband's best friend. The world in all likelihood was ending outside the door of the restaurant, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Three hundred years had never weighed so heavily upon her as they did in that moment. They were past the usefulness of words.

So there they sat in silence, at the very end, sharing a cup of tea. The Amazon elder and the mother of the boy who Cologne had wanted to make her heir.

Mousse coughed wetly, and Kasumi made a shushing noise.

"Rest," the Tendo girl whispered, tears falling from her eyes. "You've fought long enough."

Mousse looked about, seeking Shampoo but not finding her; his glasses sat unused atop his head.

Through tears and despair and horror, Kasumi's compassion shone like the face of God. And in that moment, when all hope was lost, she began to sing a gentle lullaby. For Mousse. For Nerima. For the whole world.

Mousse sank peacefully down into his bedding and smiled. "Shampoo..." he whispered, and died.

Across the room, Shampoo blinked fiercely through her tears.

The only sounds were the sobbing of the refugees, and of Kasumi's slow, gentle, sad lullaby.

Cologne had never felt so old.

-----------------

Atop the remains of Mugen Gakuen, the Senshi stared in horror at the ruined body of one of their own. Uranus breathed deep, ragged, gasping breaths, kept alive only by her magic when by all rights she should be dead.

Neptune wept, her tears falling gently onto the body of her lover.

"Saturn," Pluto said, her voice full of weary resignation. "It's time."

A thrill of horror shot through Usagi's body at those words. "Pluto," she said, "We CAN'T. Not now. Not after all this."

Saturn kissed the top of Akane's head and rose wearily, Silence Glaive in hand. "Have you found another way?" she asked. Her voice was flat. Empty.

Usagi's thoughts raced. She could try the Ginzuishou, but she had already combined its power with everyone else's for the Sailor Planet attack, and that had had no effect. But there had to be a way! This couldn't be the end! They had a future to look forward to! Chibi-Usa was proof of that. "Chibi-Usa..." she said.

Pluto shook her head sadly. "The future is not set, my Queen. For us. Here, now, there is no fate but what we make. Knowing what might wait for us can give us hope, but there are no guarantees. Not when you're here, within the moments."

Usagi met Pluto's gaze, and for a moment she felt as though she were falling into the depths of those haunted, timeless eyes. She felt as though she could see the whole history of the world moving towards this moment. Here. Now.

This ending.

Sailor Saturn raised the Silence Glaive.

"No," Usagi whispered. "I won't let it end like this."

Above, Pharaoh 90 glowed brighter and brighter. It was becoming hard to look at the bulk of the great beast; it shone like a red sun in the skies above Juuban.

Somewhere in the south pacific, R'ley rose from the water depths, bringing with it the king of dreams: dread Cthulhu had awakened at last to challenge the might of Pharaoh 90.

In that moment, the words of Queen Serenity, of Selene, faint but clear, rang out in the din: "Contained within is your birthright, Princess Serenity: the last part of your power which could not transmigrate into your new life. Here it waits. The time will come when you must drink it to the lees."

Filled with sudden hope, Usagi held out her hand. A ball of light flared, then coalesced into the shape of the Holy Grail.

It shone like the dawn.

"Minna," Usagi whispered. "Believe in me." She raised the cup to her lips, and she drank. It was bitter, and it burned as it flowed down her throat, but she drank.

She drank it to the lees.

Everything changed.

---------------

Pharaoh 90 was gone. The whole city was gone. Everything was gone. Princess Serenity stood on the balcony overlooking Mare Serenitatis. The sea rippled gently, and the Earth rose in the distance.

This was not the Dreamlands. It didn't feel the same. It felt like...

Home. Home, in a way that no place on Earth ever had.

"You could stay here, you know," Selene said from behind her.

Princess Serenity turned, and blinked in surprise. There was Selene - Queen Serenity - dressed in the formal gown of the Queen of the Silver Millennium.

"Stay?" she asked, confused.

Selene nodded. "You would be safe here. There's no pain. No fear. No death. You could have everything you've ever wanted. Your friends, too."

"How did I get here?" Princess Serenity asked. "I was... I was at Mugen Gakuen. We were fighting. Where is this?"

Selene smiled gently. "Here is your home. Your home and the home of your court. This is the Celestial Realm. The home of the gods. Like you."

Princess Serenity stared at Selene. "But... why does it look like the Moon Kingdom?"

"We thought you would be more comfortable in these surroundings," Selene replied. "Now that you've Ascended, there's no need for you to worry about the Mortal World anymore. You can stay here forever. It's where you were always meant to be, after all. Where your mother came from, long ago."

"You're not...?"

"No."

Princess Serenity felt deeply, deeply troubled. She looked out at the Earth rising over the horizon. "What about them?" she asked.

Selene shrugged. "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. Humanity's time has come and gone, Serenity."

Princess Serenity looked towards the door to her chamber, and beyond it was a far green country under a swift sunrise that tugged at her heartstrings like nothing before in her life. Everything she saw there was familiar, everything had an earthly equivalent, yet this land was so much more: more awful, more divine. She knew that this was where she belonged.

And yet...

"I can't," she whispered, and came back to herself. She was Usagi, and she wore the clothing of a Japanese school girl.

Selene arched a delicate eyebrow. "Are you sure? Your mother had this same choice, once. I tell you now what we told her then: if you choose to leave this place behind, you will not be allowed to return. You will know grief, and pain, and suffering, and all that life in the mortal world brings with it, save what is prevented by your nature."

Usagi fell silent, staring out the door at the far green country. Towards the sunrise. Towards the faintest echo, there, of the Love which moves the sun and the stars.

She let out a long, deep breath. "I'm sure," she said. "I can't leave humanity to die. I can't leave the Earth to be destroyed. I have... I have..."

Her room vanished. Selene vanished. The far green country vanished. Usagi opened her eyes, and she stood once more beneath the writhing mass of Pharaoh 90. Power suffused her being. Her hair became as silver, every last trace of blonde vanishing forever. "I have people who are counting on me!"

The crescent moon flared brilliantly upon her forehead, and in that moment, she knew what she had to do.

"Lend me your power..." she whispered, even as Sailor Saturn walked to the edge of the roof. She wouldn't stop Saturn from bringing down the Glaive. She knew that now. But maybe... maybe...

Red blasts of power began to flare out from Pharaoh 90's body, and everywhere they touched became Pharaoh 90. The crater that had been the Minato ward began to writhe, vast tentacles bursting forth from the ground.

"Usagi," Venus whispered, and the gem in her tiara glowed golden.

"Usagi," each of the Guardian Senshi said in turn, their gems glowing with gentle light.

Endymion felt the tug. The request. Usagi needed his power. He stepped to her side, put an arm around her, and gave her everything he had.

"MOON ETERNAL POWER...!" Usagi cried with everything that was within her.

Sailor Saturn brought down the Silence Glaive.

END CHAPTER 18

Author's note: Many thanks to Sunshine Temple for his useful, insightful comments and criticism.


	20. The Wheel of Fire

Ranma brought down the Silence Glaive, and the whole world went white. There was a terrific roar, and then... nothing. Perfect silence. Death had come for the Earth, and she was not pleased by what she found crawling upon its surface.

In Nerima, Cologne abruptly realized that things had become deathly quiet. No, not deathly quiet. Sound had died. The sounds of the refugees around her had ceased. Shampoo's pacing was noiseless. Cologne opened her mouth to speak, and nothing reached her ears.

In the South Pacific, dread Cthulhu's sanity-shredding warble suddenly failed. Molecules vibrated, the ocean frothed and surged, soundlessly. If the beast had eyes, they would have widened in that moment. It lifted its great, swollen head towards Tokyo, knowing that Doom was at hand.

In the United States, even as nuclear bombs detonated atop infested cities on the Eastern Seaboard, even as Acting President Dennis Hastert authorized yet more nuclear strikes upon the Chaos Spawn, his voice failed. He trailed off and looked into the receiver.

Silence.

Atop Mugen Gakuen, each of the Senshi stared helplessly towards the figure of Sailor Saturn as the Silence Glaive came down, splitting the very aether with its passing.

All over the world, sound ceased as the Silence settled over the land. Life began to follow sound, screaming into the Abyss, but in that moment, something broke through the Silence.

A voice.

A phrase.

"MOON ETERNAL POWER...!"

A song amidst the Silence. A power. Bound up with it was all of nature's first golden green, all the joy of the springtime, the promise of renewal, all that was pure, all that was good, all that held compassion for another, and the precious, precious illusion that with this renewal there would be no new winter to come.

The power of Serenity.

The power of Serenity met the power of Saturn, and they warred like dragons across the globe, vast lines of power simultaneously laying waste to and restoring entire continents. North America was obliterated in the blink of an eye. North America was restored to being. Australia re-emerged unscathed from the Tsunamis caused by Antarctica's destruction. Australia was blasted to ash. The world's leylines split open, and sheer, undiluted magical power flooded out across the surface of the world, pollinating the latent DNA of Adam that yet hung in the atmosphere above Antarctica, sending it flooding out into the children yet unborn.

Before the combined might of Saturn and Serenity, even warring as they were, the Great Old Ones could not stand. Dread Cthulhu roared in agony as the power of Serenity burned away his corruption until he glowed like a coal, and then fell apart into ashes. In the skies above the remnants of New York, mighty Cthugha, and Pharaoh 90 in the skies over what was left of Tokyo, both simply ceased before the onslaught of Saturn's might. Deep Ones died by the millions, Moon Beasts by the tens of thousands. Everywhere, they screamed, writhed, gibbered, flopped, cried out to their unholy gods. Everywhere, they died.

Still the power of Saturn warred with Serenity. Still the dark, cold, Silence of the world sought to extinguish the shine of the Silver Moon.

And Usagi screamed, her hair flung back, her eyes open wide, golden crescent moon shining like the dawn. Mamoru at her side, all of her Guardian Senshi just behind her. The Ginzuishou blossomed in her hands. Her eyes widened for a split second, and then she threw everything she could draw from the sacred stone into her effort, crying, "ONEGAI! GINZUISHOU!"

The Ginzuishou pulsed once, twice, and then changed. Evolved. In that moment, the Silver Moon Crystal was born.

-------------------

Reflections of Ruin  
by P.H. Wise  
A Ranma/Sailor Moon/Cthulhu Mythos Crossover Fukufic

Chapter 19 – The Wheel of Fire

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I don't own Sailor Moon. Please don't sue me. I'm not doing this for profit.

-------------------

Ranma awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling. His head hurt. Everything hurt, actually. For a moment, he stared up at that unfamiliar ceiling, trying to figure out where he could possibly be. He raised his hand in front of his eyes and opened and closed his hand. Scratch that. Her hand. Female form, then. She sat up. "Akane!" she yelled suddenly, and vertigo threatened to overwhelm her. Strong but gentle hands guided her shoulders back down to the bed, and she heard a familiar voice.

Doctor Tofu's voice.

"Easy, Ranma," the Doctor said, "You've had a rough time."

"Doctor Tofu?" Ranma asked, confused. She couldn't see him. Where was he? She hadn't seen any sign of the man since... she wasn't sure when. The good Doctor's clinic had closed up almost overnight one day, it seemed like. That was all Before, though. Before... everything. "Where am I?" she asked.

Tofu stepped into Ranma's field of vision, leaning down so Ranma could see him without craning her neck. "You don't remember?" Tofu asked, concern writ large upon his face.

**FLASH **

Fire. Pain. Silence.

**FLASH**

Ranma put a hand to her head. "Ugh..."

Doctor Tofu smiled sympathetically. "It's OK if you can't remember it all right now. It will come back to you. For now, just concentrate on healing."

"This... can't be right," Ranma murmured, struggling once more to sit up. "I saw... I was..." Vertigo rose up over her in waves, and the room began to spin above her. "Where's Akane? AKANE!"

"She isn't here," Tofu said.

**FLASH **

Akane. Mistress 9. Pharaoh 90.

**FLASH **

"Where am I?"

Tofu shrugged. "You tell me. You brought it down, didn't you? The Silence Glaive? Knowing what it meant. What it would do."

"I..." Ranma said, staring at her own hands. "I brought down the Silence Glaive," she whispered. "I promised Usagi I wouldn't."

"I know," Tofu replied. "But a broken promise is hardly your biggest concern right now. Do you remember?"

As if Tofu's words had opened the floodgates, memories poured into Ranma's mind. Memories of being Sailor Saturn. Of losing Akane. Of finding Akane again. Of grief, of sorrow, of loss, of friends gained and worlds destroyed. Of lives destroyed. Reflections of Ruin. She stared, wide-eyed. "Then aren't you...?"

"Dead?" Tofu asked, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Yes. Doctor Tofu is quite dead."

Ranma flipped up to her feet, flipping her pigtail out behind her head as she did so. Vertigo rose up within her, but this time, she stood her ground, refusing to be on her back before a potential enemy. "Who are you?" she demanded, eyes cold.

"That's a dangerous question," Tofu replied, not at all concerned by Ranma's sudden hostility. "You shouldn't ask unless you really want an answer. Perhaps I'm an angel, sent here to guide you to the afterlife. Perhaps I'm a hallucination - a manifestation of your fevered little brain as it attempts to escape from the reality of its own death."

"... huh?" Ranma asked intelligently, and scratched her head.

Tofu sweatdropped. "I'm a friend, ok?"

"Uh, gotcha. Why didn't ya say so?"

Tofu shook his head. "Never mind. The important thing is that you remember. That's good. You know that Sailor Saturn was never supposed to survive bringing down the Silence Glaive, don't you?"

Ranma nodded slowly. "...Yeah. But I don't care about that. Is Akane ok? Where is she?"

"She's safe. You won't see her again for a long, long time, but she's safe. Does that comfort you?"

Ranma didn't reply.

"I know you don't understand, but you've done me a big favor, Ranma Saotome. You might not be a lillim, even if you were disguised as one for a time, but I repay my debts, whether they're debts to family or debts to strangers. You have opened an unexpected door. You and that Silver Moon girl. I owe you for that. That's why I caught you. Brought you here. Between the moments. I saved your life."

"... I didn't ask ya to."

"No. But it is done. It will be a long while before you, and the whole human race, comes out of what you and the Silver Moon girl have wrought. You won't see me again. But if all goes well, you might see what humanity can make of itself. If they can see the test for what it is."

Ranma nodded faintly. She hadn't really expected things to be easy. But still, there were questions. "What test? What do ya mean?"

"Look back across your life, Saotome. From start to finish. Everyone you've hurt. Everyone your influence destroyed. Your childhood friend, Ukyou. Shampoo, your would-be Amazon wife. Ryouga Hibiki, cursed by you and then cursed by your lover before meeting a very messy end. Your triumphs and your losses, your joy and your despair. You, as a living embodiment of Ruin, have known more of Man's inhumanity towards Man than most. Look back across your life and tell me: what can change the nature of a man?"

The first answer that came to mind was a sarcastic one, but something in the voice of the thing that wore Tofu's face made Ranma stop, and actually think before she replied. And length she did so. "I dunno. Love, I guess."

Tofu nodded. "Others have answered similarly. We were going to test the survivors in our own way. See if they were ready to move on. Become more than they were. But things have changed, and they changed because you changed them. You and the Silver Moon girl. The eyes of the whole host of Elder Gods are upon the Earth now, waiting to learn the answer to that question."

"What can change the nature of a man?" Ranma asked. She wasn't all that clear on what was meant by that question, but even she could sense the importance that... whoever this was, attached to it.

"Can Serenity change the nature of mankind - for the better?"

Ranma was silent for a long moment. At length, she looked up. "I gotta know. Who are you?" she asked. "I know you ain't Tofu."

Tofu smiled. "Call me Adam."

Tofu vanished. The hospital room vanished.

Ranma vanished.

-------------------

Two billion people died in the Cataclysm.

Two **billion.**

Dead.

And what kind of word is that, dead?

A word of endings, darkness, and terror: a horrible, smothering sort of word, and filled with other horrible words like a corpse over-ripe in its corruption, overflowing the measure, and spilling forth its putrid excess into the terrified mind. A word for we know not what. A word for the descent of the Named into nonentity, and the jury still deliberating over whether any reascent is yet to come. A word for all the piles of rotting leaves warming the gutters of the world.

Two billion souls, wiped from the face of the Earth. Some at the hands of the rising armies of Chaos, some from the tidal waves sent out by the destruction of Antarctica.

That was before Sailor Saturn brought down the Silence Glaive, ushering in the Silence of the World, and bringing death to every creature that walked the surface of Terra.

Or would have.

A sole voice called out in the darkness. A warm female voice, full of hope, and compassion, and light. "Don't worry," it whispered. "I won't let you fall. Nobody needs to be sacrificed. I told you before: if we all get together, we can find another way."

Usagi, in her desperation to save as many as possible, embraced everyone who yet survived: the whole population of the world, each of them touched by the power of Saturn, each of them held in place by her will. The Earth itself trembled and cracked at the seams as Saturn's singular act of entropic destruction sought to bring about on Earth the fate of Nemesis. Usagi's power - the power of Serenity - yet clashed with Saturn's, and the struggle quickly crystallized. Froze.

Winter and Spring were never meant to hold the world concurrently, nor day and night.

It started on the tower of Mugen Gakuen, where Akane wept long, bitter tears as she clutched Ranma's fallen body in her arms. Where Usagi stood with all her court around her, channeling power through the Silver Moon Crystal. The very air crystallized, freezing solid around the titanic struggle between life and death. Freezing solid around them all.

It was the only way.

Long. Slow. Difficult. The only way to ensure the world's survival. The destructive principle released by Sailor Saturn in the act of bringing down the Silence Glaive had to be undone bit by bit, with backwards mutterings of dissevering power. It would take years.

Centuries.

Too long to save the lives of those who had been touched by it before Serenity's intervention, except that they be preserved. Locked in stasis.

The Ice spread from Mugen Gakuen, quickly encompassing the glassed crater that had been the Minato ward, spreading faster and faster as it expanded. Japan froze. The sea of Japan froze. The ice spread into China and across the Pacific in a matter of seconds. It continued to expand until it encompassed the majority of the world.

Silence held the world for nearly a thousand years as the remnant life of the planet Earth lay locked in a frozen slumber. The power of Saturn warred with the power of Serenity for the whole of that span, seeking to snuff out what remained of life on Earth.

Serenity's power, and the power of the Silver Moon Crystal, did not yield. Like a mother nursing an injured child back to health, her power slowly repaired the damage that had been done in that final moment, when, to prevent the whole Earth from falling into a fate worse than death – absorption into the being of Pharaoh 90 – Sailor Saturn had brought down the Silence Glaive and scoured the globe clean. A thousand years of frozen slumber, with Serenity and all her court locked in ice in the remains of the Infinity Academy.

But even the harshest winter ends eventually. Even the darkest night must give way to the dawn.

For the two billion who died in the Cataclysm, dawn came too late.

--------------

**0 Anno Serenity (AS)**

**(3000 AD)**

Dawn.

She awoke suddenly out of darkness, and for a moment she did not know who she was. A breeze caressed her face. She was cold. She was wet. The faint warmth of the sun shone upon her face.

She opened her eyes.

The colours of the sunrise nearly struck her blind. All the colours of the world at once. All the life and joy and goodness and beauty in the blink of an eye. Usagi Tsukino blinked back tears. After a few minutes spent adjusting to the light, she rose to her feet.

The remains of Mugen Gakuen lay all about her, the cracked, pitted summoning chamber open to the sky. Her friends yet lay unconscious in shallow pools of water. She looked right, looked left, and simply stopped and stared.

The world around her was... was...

"Masaka..." Usagi whispered.

"Usako?" Mamoru murmured faintly, stirring back to life. He rose to his feet, water dripping from his clothing.

She turned towards him, and there she stood, silhouetted against the rising sun, her long white hair flowing in the breeze. "Mamo-chan," she whispered. Then she ran to him, crying out, "Mamo-chan! We made it!"

He caught her up in his strong embrace and kissed the crescent moon upon her brow. "Do you know how long...?" he asked.

She shook her head, then gestured towards the land around them. "A long, long time, probably."

He looked down.

Save for the summoning chamber itself, Mugen Gakuen was completely changed. The building was a vast mound of overgrown grass and flowers and moss. An island of green in the midst of what was once Tokyo. Tokyo: vast lakes now covered most of what had been the cityscape, divided by natural breakwaters. In the distance, the surf beat against a tiny strip of sand that marked the former borders of Tokyo the great, Tokyo the fallen. In the opposite direction, a cityscape could yet be made out. Nerima glinted to the northwest. Suginami, Setagaya, to the west. Itabashi and Kita to the north. There was no sign of electricity or transport, but the buildings appeared eerily unchanged. Everything else of the city was simply... gone.

It was then that Usagi noticed the saltwater scent rising up from the lakes. She breathed deep, and she knew in that moment that she had never before tasted air so clean, so pure.

But the price...

Sorrow. Terrible, terrible sorrow arose in her heart in that moment. Choking, crushing, unimaginable sorrow, mingled with faint sparks of the joy of simply being alive, and Usagi Tsukino, goddess, Neo-Queen Serenity, fell into Mamoru's arms and bawled.

Usagi was dimly aware of the other Senshi stirring, rising to their feet. She faintly heard their dismay and their horror at what lay all around them, but to her, in that moment, all that existed was sorrow and Mamoru.

-----------------

Nabiki Tendo sat against the crumbling wall of the former summoning chamber, staring at her hands. At the ugly little mouths that filled her palms, with their nasty teeth and long tongues. She could feel her flesh **crawling**. In this case, literally. Grotesque bulges yet traveled the length of her body, as though something were burrowing just beneath her skin, though they were less frequent than they had been when she'd woken up a minute ago.

A faint silvery light shone from somewhere off to her right, from the direction where she knew that Sailor Uranus had fallen, but she paid it little mind.

On first waking, she had been so refreshed and so comfortable that she'd thought she was back at home. She had almost fancied that she could hear the sounds of Kasumi cooking in the kitchen downstairs.

But that was something that would probably never happen again. Kasumi. Her eyes widened.

"Oh God, Kasumi!" she exclaimed. She'd completely forgotten! The last time she'd seem Kasumi, she, Nabiki and Nodoka were running for their lives from those... Things. 'Moonbeasts,' her mind supplied for her. Had Kasumi escaped? Had Nodoka? Had they two at least escaped?

A flash of memory. The image of Nodoka fighting with her katana at the Nekohanten.

The Dark Man.

He had promised... but then, she had no reason to suppose that he would have kept such a promise. She let out a bitter laugh.

At that moment, a shadow fell over her. She looked up.

Sailor Jupiter stood over her, her eyes hard. "Looks like we missed one," the Senshi announced. "I'll handle this." She brought her hands together, index fingers and thumbs extended. "SUPREME THUN...!"

"STOP!"

Jupiter blinked, allowing the magical energies to dissipate. She followed the line of the sound with her eyes until her gaze fell upon Akane, sitting up from where she had lain sprawled over Saturn's body. "... Mistress 9," she said harshly, "I'm not sure how either of you survived all that, but if you think I'm going to let an enemy like her, or you, run free, you've got another think coming." She cracked her knuckles challengingly.

Nabiki looked up at the Senshi standing over her. For a moment there, she had been willing to let the girl kill her. For a moment. But if Akane was still alive, then... "Akane?" she asked, her voice hopeful for the first time since her awakening.

"I'm here, oneesan." Akane glared at Jupiter. "Leave her alone. She hasn't done anything to you. She's..." she shook her head. "We're not your enemies. Not anymore."

Jupiter glared darkly at Akane and Nabiki until a gentle hand settled on her shoulder.

She looked up.

Usagi stood behind her, her eyes full of compassion. "It's ok, Mako-chan," she said. "I think Akane-chan is herself again, and..." She looked at Nabiki questioningly.

"Nabiki," Nabiki said. She rose to her feet and bowed politely. "Akane is my sister."

Usagi smiled. "See?" she said.

Jupiter looked troubled, but it was Mars who spoke next, before Jupiter could get a word in.

"They're both still full of dark energy, Usagi. Couldn't you at least purify them?"

Usagi nodded. "We'll have to. You both want to be human again, don't you?"

Nabiki let out a long, slow breath, hope rising up within her breast. "You can do that?" she asked.

But Akane looked troubled. "I... don't know if I know how. I haven't been human for a long time. I thought I was, but..." She looked down at Ranma's still sleeping form, and determination became fixed in her countenance. "I'll do it."

Jupiter and Mars both seemed to relax at that.

Usagi raised her hands, and with a brief glow, the Crescent Moon Wand appeared between them. She seized it and held it up high. "Are you both ready?" she asked.

"That would not be wise, Usagi," Sailor Pluto said, stepping out from behind a length of crumbling wall.

"What?" Usagi asked. "Why not?"

"Look at them closely," Pluto said. "Open your senses. What do you see?"

Usagi seemed puzzled for a moment. She looked closely at both Nabiki and Akane, and then gasped a horrified gasp. "There's nothing beneath the dark power!" she exclaimed.

Nabiki's heart fell, her hope shattering before it had really had a chance to be born. "... and that means?" she asked, her tone a resigned one.

"If I purified you..." Usagi trailed off, and shook her head fiercely. "I won't do it. I won't kill you or Akane-chan." She looked at Pluto. "I don't understand. Why was I able to purify the Ayakashi sisters, and all of those frog things, but not Akane-chan and her sister?"

Nabiki fell back into a sitting position, landing on her tailbone. Hard. She barely felt it.

She was stuck.

At least her skin wasn't writhing anymore, and the mouths only came out when she thought about them. Well, except for the two on her hands. The taste of the palm of her own hand on the tongue of her right hand-mouth made her shudder. And that was without the... feelings. For all her seeming sophistication, Nabiki had never really had much in the way of ... 'experience.' And now she had all of these ... urges. Urges that disgusted her even as they enticed her. Urges that didn't go away.

Presently, she realized that her hands were shaking. Her whole body was shaking. Trembling. It was over. It was over, and she had survived. 'How did I survive this?' she wondered, staring at her palms as she experimentally opened and closed the two mouths.

By then, Pluto had finished her explanation. Usagi turned to both Akane and Nabiki in turn. "I wish there was something I could do," she whispered sadly.

'There is,' Nabiki's mind supplied. 'Come to us. Join with us. Become one with us in body and in mind, and we shall give you such pleasures as you have never...' She squashed that train of thought. That was a bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

It wouldn't go away. 'Damnit,' Nabiki thought, 'Stop picturing her naked. She could squash you like a bug.' She'd never been attracted to another woman before. Had the transformation altered her sexual preferences somehow? ... Nope. A brief glance at Usagi's boyfriend disproved that much at least. The fact that she thought he'd look hot headless, obese, and with mouths in the palms of his hands didn't help matters, though.

"Something wrong?" Usagi asked.

Nabiki gave her an angry, incredulous look.

Usagi sank back into herself, downcast, and Mars bapped her on the side of the head.

"Baka Usagi," Mars said.

Baka Usagi indeed.

--------------

"If I purified you..." Usagi trailed off, and shook her head fiercely. "I won't do it. I won't kill you or Akane-chan."

Akane shook her head. She listened as Pluto explained the hows and whys, but it didn't matter. At least Ranma was alive. That was enough.

"Akane?" Ranma asked faintly, stirring at last. Her eyes fluttered open, and she seemed to relax immediately when she saw her lover's nearness. "Hey," she said.

Akane smiled fondly, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Hey yourself," she said.

"Don't sweat it, Akane," Ranma said, her blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "You're uncute enough that a big black star and scary hair don't actually make it any worse."

There was that old familiar anger again, but it was tempered now with the joy of their reunion. "Ranma no baka," she said. "How long have you been awake?"

Ranma sat up and drew Akane into a fierce embrace. "Couple minutes. You ok?"

Akane sank into Ranma's embrace and smiled. "I am now," she said. And for one shining moment, all was right with the world.

"Ranma-chan!" Usagi exclaimed.

Ranma blinked. Usagi ran to her, raised her hands, slapped her across the face as hard as she could, and then glomped her with a glomp worthy of Shampoo.

"U... Usagi?" Ranma asked, totally nonplussed.

"Don't ever do that again!" Usagi said. "You promised you wouldn't destroy the world, and you did it anyways! But..." she teared up. "I'm relieved. Thank God you're OK, and Akane-chan, too." She shifted her position slightly to include Akane in the hug, and then released both of them, leaving a thoroughly bemused Ranma and Akane in her wake.

---------------

Across the way, Haruka Tenoh limped heavily, her newly regrown flesh still tender and raw, leaning against her lover as they followed Sailor Pluto towards the far end of the building. Nabiki briefly wondered how they expected to get down.

It didn't matter.

They'd won. She'd always been good with gambling, and she couldn't deny that her weird, wild gamble had paid off. She'd done everything she'd set out to do. She was alive. Ranma was alive. Akane was alive. They hadn't stopped kissing each other since Usagi had finally left them alone. They kissed hungrily, greedily, as though each one might be the last one they'd ever have.

Nabiki was more than a little bit jealous.

But there they were. Alive and well. Together. Nabiki's bet had been repaid in full. And yet, for the first time in her life she couldn't help but wonder, was it really worth the price?

Daddy, dead.

Herself becoming... something else.

A monster.

Something she'd have to live with for the rest of her life.

Usagi was moving. She was calling to the other girls. To Haruka, Michiru, and Pluto. They stopped. Turned. In spite of herself, Nabiki couldn't help but listen as the white-haired girl spoke.

"There are a lot of people who are going to need our help, minna," Usagi said, and her tone was a determined one. "I know that we don't feel ready. I know that we're all still in shock over what happened... what we went through. I wish we could all just run away and take a long, long vacation." She got a faraway look in her eyes. "Maybe to that nice hot spring resort we went to earlier this ye..." She blushed, trailed off.

"Meatball head," Rei said fondly.

Usagi smiled faintly, then went on, her bearing Queenly, possessed of a dignity beyond the power of words or even clumsiness to dispel. "With all that's happened, with all the suffering, all the death, we can't just sit on the sidelines anymore. We have the power to make a difference, here. We have to help the humans."

Nabiki's eyes narrowed at that. Did Usagi no longer consider herself to be human? That could be... dangerous. She was the only one who appeared to notice. 'What about you, Nabiki?' she wondered. 'You're not human, either. Not anymore.'

"They need hope. We all need hope. If we don't give it to them, who will? If we don't help them who will?"

Who indeed?

One by one, each of the Senshi came and knelt at Usagi's feet. First Minako, sword sheathed at her side, then Rei. Then Makoto and Ami. Then Pluto. And finally, Haruka and Michiru.

All save Ranma, who stood now at Akane's side, watching the others, her eyes unreadable.

Usagi looked embarrassed. A few tears escaped her eyes, and her dress fluttered in the breeze. "You don't need to kneel for me, my precious, precious friends."

It was Sailor Pluto who looked up. Sailor Pluto who met Usagi's gaze with her own. Sailor Pluto who replied. Once more, Usagi felt a sense of timelessness. A feeling as though all of history had been moving towards this moment. This end. This goal.

"Yes," Sailor Pluto said. "We do. Neo-Queen Serenity."

As she watched, Nabiki felt a cold chill worming its way into her heart. She could taste the saltwater air in all three of her mouths. The breeze russled her hair, and she folded her wings closely around her body to prevent them from being a problem.

Of the Senshi, only Pluto realized that what they were witnessing here, now, was the birth of Crystal Tokyo. A single tear flowed down her cheek at the sight of all her hopes and dreams drawing towards fulfillment.

The Senshi turned and looked expectantly at Ranma, then: the only one of them to not swear fealty to the Queen.

Ranma exchanged glances with Akane. She was never one to swear fealty to anyone, but she did feel like she owed Usagi for what had happened. She'd broken her word of honour that she wouldn't try to destroy the world, and she'd done it anyways. She needed to do something, at least.

Akane nodded supportively.

Ranma looked at the assembled Senshi. "You all know I ain't good with this sorta thing, so I'll just say this once. Ya did good, Usagi. If you ever need me, I'll be there."

The Senshi all seemed to relax at that, and Usagi smiled: her smile was like the morning of the world.

And Nabiki? Nabiki staggered past Akane, past Ranma, past the unnoticed, unheeded Silence Glaive, all the way to the edge of the building. The sunlight glittered on the rippling lakes where Tokyo had once stood. To the northwest, she could see Nerima.

Home.

Nabiki turned away from the edge.

Akane looked up and wiped her eyes, the black star yet emblazoned upon her forehead. Their gazes met, and a look of terrible understanding passed between them.

They both knew that there would be no going back for them. No return to humanity. For Akane, there was no humanity to restore: she was not two beings, but one, and to strip away the dark power within her would be to strip away her very self. The merging was utterly complete. For Nabiki, it was the same, though for different reasons. Bile rose up in the back of her throat as she remembered what Sailor Pluto had told her, then: That if only she had let the monster destroy her like a good little sheep instead of pouring herself into its mind and fighting back, Usagi might have been able to resurrect her. Or at the very least, she would have peace now instead of... this.

The universe had a very twisted sense of humour.

Nabiki wasn't laughing.

Neither was Akane.

Akane looked down. She couldn't meet her sister's gaze. "... I'm sorry, Nabiki," she murmured. "I'm so sorry."

A strange, not wholly unpleasant **crawling** sensation in the back of her brain came up in the wake of her name being spoken aloud. Nabiki blinked in surprise, and stared at Akane for a long moment, feeling an awful sense of longing. A needfulness. The urge to do... She shuddered faintly and looked away, utterly ashamed. She understood what Akane meant, nonetheless. For all that she was still a monster, she had Ranma, and Ranma loved her, and probably always would. No matter what.

"Not gettin' all depressed again, are ya?" Ranma asked, and held out a hand.

Akane took it.

Nabiki turned away from the couple, not wanting to see their joy just now; not when the joy of others was like salt in her wounds in the face of her despair. She had to swallow three times before she trusted her voice to reply. "I'm sorry, too," she whispered at last, fluttering her wings faintly, and her hand-mouths echoed her with their tiny, maddening voices. "I'm sorry, too."

THE END

---------------

Reflections of Ruin

Epilogue: The Shape of Things to Come

---------------

**-500 Anno Serenity (AS)**

**(2500 AD)**

The great crystalline tower shone in the light of the setting sun, casting brilliant, dazzling patterns of rainbow light onto the frozen ruins all around it. Most of the Earth was dead. Destroyed as the Old Ones rose to challenge the usurper – Pharaoh 90. Destroyed as Saturn brought down her Glaive. Destroyed by the advancing glaciers of this new ice age. Yet here, in this place, the remnants of the final battle could still be glimpsed.

A small group of people was held suspended within the crystal of the tower, and would have been visible, had there been anyone to see them. A kingly man in armour, a sword held in his hand, stood protectively in front of a white-haired teenager, her hair done up in odd, twin ponytails. A golden crescent moon shone on her forehead; she wore a long, white dress, and a gem of some sort was suspended in the ice before her outstretched hands.

Behind them were seven women in senshi fukus, seemingly captured in the ice even as they fought against... something. One of them was on the ground, and horrible burned. Whatever it had been, it was here no longer. And there, lying prone near the very edge of the ice-tower, was another woman in a senshi fuku, with strange petal-like sleeves, a spiked crystal brooch, a wicked looking Glaive lying by her feet. Kneeling over her, tears frozen even as they coursed down her cheeks, a young woman with long, dark hair, a black star on her forehead, in a long, black dress.

The sun set, and the stars shone bright and clear. The haze of pollution around the world had dissipated, but that was all that could be said for the aftermath of this event. The world was dead, or close enough. Most of the animals were gone, even the insects, save those which had been caught up in the ice itself. What plants remained were those well suited to surviving the bitter cold. And humanity? Humanity lay locked in the ice.

In the midst of this, beneath the cold, uncaring stars, and amidst the frozen city, Galaxia descended.

The Golden Queen lighted on a small icy outcropping that had grown out of the icy tower and imperiously surveyed all that lay before her. She saw the Princess and her court, locked within the ice. She saw the ruined planet. She saw too the lingering traces of the battle that had caused all this. Briefly, she considered destroying the tower and tearing out the star seeds of all those contained within.

No. While she was almost completely overcome by the influence of Chaos, she had not descended to that level of barbarism. Not yet. She could wait. She took a moment to study the spell that had created the tower, observing the cataclysmic forces that even now were locked in combat one against the other, destruction warring with creation and achieving only a kind of stasis. She nodded to herself and lifted off into the air.

She would return, soon. In another five hundred years, the battle between the two influences here would be decided, one way or another, and she would have her prize. Until then, Galaxia would wait at the place where stars are born.

Zero Star Sagittarius.

END

---------

Author's notes:

I'd like to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing this story, strange and dark as it is. Without your encouragement, I don't think I would ever have finished it.

Peace be with you all, and God bless.

P.H. Wise


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